"Why don't you do anything?"
Translation:Warum macht ihr nichts?
19 Comments
In Germany language exists: "ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr , sie." The word "tu" doesn't exist. Though the correct answers are: "Warum macht ihr nichts?" or "Warum machst du nichts?" But "Warum machst tu nichts"" is not possible
Yes, this is an error that the creators of the Pearson course ( https://www.duolingo.com/comment/24052907/Duolingo%E2%80%99s-Partnership-with-Pearson ) made. Please report it.
Because the English sentence has "not anything" (nichts), not merely "not" (nicht).
Warum macht ihr nicht? would mean "Why don't you do?".
Thanks a lot, Minizamo!!! I totally forgot this! I realized that I've read this before on the Tips and Notes:
https://www.duolingo.com/skill/de/Negatives/tips-and-notes
Thanks very much!!!
Warum machen Sie nicht etwas?. I got it as wrong I think this should be also correct, except that "nicht etwas" should be written as "nichts"
Yes, you should use nichts, not nicht etwas.
Using Warum machen Sie nicht etwas? is wrong.
"Warum machst du nicht etwas?" is more gramatically correct. I demand retribution.
That means "Why don't you do something?"
Which is not quite the same as "Why don't you do anything?"
Isn't 'Warum' a subordinating Conjugation, which pushes the verb to the end of the sentence? Why is that rule not applicable in this sentence?
No; warum is not a conjunction at all, subordinating or otherwise.
I'd call it an adverb.
Is it? I found 'warum' as subordinating conjunction on this link which someone shared on a different question forum earlier. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/german/grammar/conjunctionsrev2.shtml Is it a different warum?
Ah, right -- yes, that's "a different warum".
Compare also these English sentences:
- I know why he did that.
- Why did he do that?
They have different word orders, because one's a conjunction, one's an adverb.
You can't say "I know why did he do that." or "Why he did that?" (though that doesn't stop learners from trying :D).
I put "Warum tust du nichts" and it was marked correct. Don't they use the verb tue, tust, tun, etc. much, or just not in this context Also, doesn't machen mean "to make"?
I don’t quite understand your question.
Warum tust du nichts? was marked correct because it is correct — even better than Warum machst du nichts?, in my opinion, especially if the meaning is something like “Why don’t you do anything to improve the situation/to help the person in need/etc.”.
machen can be translated either as “do” or “make” depending on the context. For example, seine Hausaufgaben machen is “to do one’s homework”.
It's one of the accepted alternatives.
Did you perhaps make some small typo? Do you have a screenshot?
