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- "Why don't you do anything?"
"Why don't you do anything?"
Translation:Warum macht ihr nichts?
40 Comments
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.
478
This is the first time I've seen the word macht (except once earlier as part of "never mind". It would be nice to be introduced to a word before it's used in a way that expects us to know it.
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!!!
257
Why here 'du' is not accepted? I mean, how are we supposed to 'imagine' that is one or the other?
Not clear if you (sing) or you (pl).
That's right - the English "you" is ambiguous between singular and plural. Also, English doesn't distinguish informal from formal language the way German does.
For that reason, all three translations are accepted here (singular informal, plural informal, formal):
- Was machst du?
- Was macht ihr?
- Was machen Sie?
What was your entire answer? Did you perhaps use the wrong verb form for your chosen pronoun? Or the wrong case of the pronoun?
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 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”.
How about "Wofür machst du nichts?"
wofür is something like "for what purpose / goal / use" rather than "for what reason".
Wofür sind diese Kartoffeln? = What are these potatoes for? (i.e. what is their intended future use?)
Doing nothing is unlikely to make progress towards and goal or to fulfil a purpose, so Wofür machst du nichts? sounds like an odd question to ask.