28 Comments
If it were 'Ich helfe ihnen' with lowercase, it'd be I'm helping them? So the only way to know the difference with speech is by context am I right or no. The way the pronouns repeat for completely different uses confuses me so much.
If it were 'Ich helfe ihnen' with lowercase, it'd be I'm helping them?
That's right.
So the only way to know the difference with speech is by context am I right or no.
That's also right.
Ihnen is the dative case of Sie, the formal "you" pronoun (whether singular or plural).
635
Now that you mention it, I remember having learned that long time ago. Thanks
Ich helfe ihnen.
That is, the same as Duo’s sentence, but with the pronoun ihnen not capitalised.
- 222
"I'll help you!" (as mentioned before) is a very natural thing for native speakers of English to say, much more than "I help you."
Just had the same thing, i asked my german boyfriend what ich helfe ihnen meant and his reaponse was "ermmm... I guess the best thing in english is i'll help you"
I also like that translation - Germans often use the present tense for situations in which English would use the future tense. Such translations can be considered idiomatic, even if the grammar is changed.
This sentence is however administered by the Pearson team, so it's up to them to decide to add it.
It's perfectly possible to use Präsens to talk about the future! One does not always use Futur with the "werden" auxillary! Why do you reject the translation "I will help you" as a mistake?! This is perfectly alright!
- 240
Since German speakers mostly use present in order to talk about the future, "I'll help you" should be accepted as a correct translation of "Ich helfe Ihnen".
Why after 'helfe' no accusative form: "Sie" ??
'Ihnen" is the dative form of "Sie" .
Help someone is [direct] to the people.
If help to you, then helfe Ihnen. Isn’t it????
- 635
In german a number of verbs are systematically followed by the dative for. Helfen + dative.
Help someone is [direct] to the people.
Not in German. helfen requires the dative case.
Yes, because the German sentence has Ihnen (capitalised), not ihnen (lowercase).
I hate this website!!! I was asked to translate :" Ich helfe Ihnen". I translated that as "I'll help you". The website told me I was wrong, because THEIR correct answer is "I help you"......... which is insane!!!! No native English speaker has ever, ever, ever heard " I help you". Never EVER!!!!! They would have heard: I will help you. or I will try to help you. Or I am doing my best to help you................ any of those, but nobody would ever say I help you......... how dare you mark me wrong on this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAArrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!
Beetle-xox has a point, though. The present tense is used all the time to indicate an immediate future: "Hang on, I'll help you" becomes invariably "Moment, ich helfe Ihnen"
Exactly...I think "I'll help you" is a more likely scenario, and thus a more natural translation.
At a very minimum I would want it to be accepted. It's abrasive and I think outright wrong for it not to be accepted. I reported it.
- 199
Well given it's future tense it shouldn't be accepted per se, however I've long been saying that Duolingo needs to have us using more than just present tenses. So really What they should do is change the example not what's accepted, they need to be quizzing us on what the future tense for helfen is, because we'll likely use it a lot more.
- 1092
Person A: "Why don't you ever help me?" Person B: "I help you. I help you all the time."
Yes, this is a perfectly acceptable translation. One often uses Präsens to refer to the future, just like Present Continuous in English. It is all the more illogical, because there are other Präsens sentences and phrases in this module, which ARE translated as future tense phrases. I don't understand why the app marks it as a mistake and why you are being downvoted.
"Ich werde dir helfen" or "Ich werde Ihnen helfen" would be "I will help you".
- 1012
So, when a child (or else) gets impatient for exemple getting dressed, you, or anyone never ever says : "Calm down, I'm helping you?" (The default translation.) And in no circumstance either someone would forgetfully ask "What do you do all day?" and you reply : "I help you". Strange.
