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- "Do you like my white horse?"
"Do you like my white horse?"
Translation:Magst du mein weißes Pferd?
15 Comments
The possessive determiners mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer inflect like ein and kein -- and so they have no ending in the nominative or accusative case for neuter singular nouns. (Nor for masculine singular nouns in the nominative, e.g. ein Junge, mein Saft.)
Just as we say ein Pferd and not eines Pferd, so we also say mein Pferd and not meines Pferd.
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So I also answered in that way, and just out of curiosity, which way is more generally popular to say something like this, with gefallen or with mögen?
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So Gefällt dir mein weißes Pferd would imply that I'm asking if you like the horse's white appearance (especially since it was mentioned)?
And magst du mein weißes Pferd would imply do you like the horse in general?
And if so, could the mögen one also overlap onto gefallen to mean physical appearance?
So Gefällt dir mein weißes Pferd would imply that I'm asking if you like the horse's white appearance (especially since it was mentioned)?
The appearance in general, not necessarily the white colour.
Perhaps they like the shape of the neck as well.
And magst du mein weißes Pferd would imply do you like the horse in general?
Yes, pretty much. Could be its character, for example.
And if so, could the mögen one also overlap onto gefallen to mean physical appearance?
Hm, not so sure about that. If I'm asking about appearance, I think I'd prefer gefallen or at least the even more general Was hältst du von meinem weißen Pferd? "What do you think about my white horse? What's your opinion about my white horse? How do you feel about my white horse?"
One way of looking at it is that because the possessive determiner mein does not conclusively indicate the gender it has to be indicated by the inflection of the adjective, in this case neuter. Check out the "mixed inflection" table in the following:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_adjectives#Mixed_inflection
Just have a question..understand that possesive determiners inflect like kein...etc. And that genitive case shows possesion. So when do we use genitive inflections of possesive determiners.. Is it used only when the gender of the possessor is known. Like for e.g.In this sentence ..my could b for a female or male..hence it is taking the accusative case... Please help...as I saw another sentence online which has only this difference.. Das Buch meines Bruders https://www.iwillteachyoualanguage.com/learn/german/german-tips/german-cases-explained