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- "Duo buys a new plane every w…
"Duo buys a new plane every week."
Translation:Duo kauft jede Woche ein neues Flugzeug.
56 Comments
No. In general, adverbs go right after the verb.
So also here, with jede Woche after kauft.
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Would it still be impossible if we wanted to emphasise the "jede Woche" part? "He buys a new plane every week, can you imagine?", stuff like that? :)
Yes, still impossible.
Er kauft sich JEde WOCHe ein neues FLUGzeug -- kannst du dir das VORstellen?
I don't think you can put jede Woche any further towards the end than that, even to emphasise it. You would have to use word stress instead.
Honestly, I am a native German speaker and I put "jede Woche" also in the end and I am sure its totally fine. Im not a linguist or smth like that but I would definitely use it in real life like that.
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If you want to emphasise an aspect, you bring it to the front in German: Jede Woche kauft Duo ein neues Flugzeug
In German, after the subject and the first verb, time usually comes first (TeKaMoLo = 1) Temporal, 2) Kausal, 3) Modal, 4)Lokal)
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/german/german-sentence-structure/
Thus: Duo kauft 1) jede Woche 2) aufgrund des Flugzeug-Verschleißes 3) mit der Kreditkarte 4) am Flughafen...ein neues Flugzeug.
Kind of silly example, but to demonstrate the preffered order of syntax. You can take any of them out and place it before the first verb:
Jede Woche kauft Duo aufrgrund des Flugzeugverschleißes mit der Kreditkarte am Flughafen ein neues Flugzeug.
But TeKaMoLo doesn't determine the place of the Object of a sentence.
So why not put it right after the verb?
@mizinamo In general is not always, what are the cases where we can put the adverbs at the end? Thanks
what are the cases where we can put the adverbs at the end?
I can't think of such a situation in German.
They may come at the beginning but I can't think of a situation where the adverb would go at the end rather than after the verb.
No, that feels unidiomatic although I cannot refer to a rule why that is so.
You could put it at the beginning: Jede Woche kauft Duo ein Fl.
And with a different adverbial it works at the end: Duo kauft ein Fl. pro Woche.
It should be accepted now. (Woche should be capitalised, of course.)
Why is it: Duo kauft jede Woche ein neues Flugzeug but not Duo kauft ein neues Flugzeug jede Woche ? I chose the second and got it wrong, a bit confused at why
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Generally, in German, the object of the sentence (here - "ein neues Flugzeug") tends to come at the very end. Think of it as ending a story with the punchline - you don't get to hear what it is that Duo buys until the very end. ;) Also, any temporal clauses ("jede Woche") tend to go right after the verb, though that is a little more flexible. See also the comments above.
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Genau. See my comment above referencing German syntax and word order (we learnt this order as "TeKaMoLo").
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Both "Wöchentlich kauft Duo ..." and "Alle Wochen kauft Duo ..." are being rejected. Are they both wrong?
Both "Wöchentlich kauft Duo ..." and "Alle Wochen kauft Duo ..." are being rejected. Are they both wrong?
alle Wochen is definitely wrong. "Duo buys a new plane all weeks" sounds wrong to me in English as well -- would you say that?
wöchentlich at the beginning of a sentence sounds very odd to me, at best. I would strongly want to move it to its natural position, after the verb. I would recommend that you do so as well.
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Thanks. And no, I would not say "all weeks" in English -- but I would not say "all two weeks" in English either, and I seem to recall "alle zwei Wochen" was the translation Duo gave for "every two weeks".
I would not say "all two weeks" in English either, and I seem to recall "alle zwei Wochen" was the translation Duo gave for "every two weeks".
That is true.
Hi, I thought German frequently uses TIME at the beginning of the sentence: "Jetzt hast du es erfahren." what is the difference I'm missing?
Can I ask what the case of jede Woche is?
accusative (of time)
"every day" would be jeden Tag, for example.
Mixed inflection after the indefinite article.
Or to look at it differently, ein doesn’t show the gender, so the adjective ending has to do so.
But surely it does show the gender as neutral, since it is in the accusative. So i put it as neue. Does this mean the rule is not as simple as in the famous article?
But surely it does show the gender as neutral
ein does not end in the -s which is typical for neuter accusative -- it has no ending at all. You cannot tell whether it's masculine or neuter.
So some word has to carry this typical -s ending: in this case, the adjective.
Ah, of course. But that opens the question as to why it isn’t « eines. » presumably if it was a skirt he was buying it would be “...kauft einen Rock”?
But that opens the question as to why it isn’t « eines. »
Indeed. Why do we not say einer Mann, eines Kind? No idea. We just don't.
But when we use those words as pronouns, then they do have an ending: Hier steht ein Mann und da steht noch einer. Hier steht ein Kind und da steht noch eins. (Here is one man and there is another one. Here is one child and there is another one.)
if it was a skirt he was buying it would be “...kauft einen Rock”?
Then it would be kauft einen neuen Rock.
einen ends in -n, the characteristic for masculine accusative, so the adjective takes a weak ending -- which happens to be -en for all cases except nominative singular. (Well, and feminine accusative and neuter accusative, because those always look like the correspondig nominative.)
The weak ending -e is only for nominative singular + fem.acc. + neut.acc.
All cases in the plural, always in genitive and dative, and for masc.acc. it's -en.
The questions you raise at the beginning of your last comment are not really applicable, because your examples are in the nominative. My point was simply that, so far as I know, “ein” when used in the accusative identifies its noun as neutral gender. But I take your general point, which is that the adjective preceding a neutral noun can only end in -e if the indefinite article governing it ends with -es.
so far as I know, “ein” when used in the accusative identifies its noun as neutral gender.
That's true. Perhaps "carries the appropriate ending" might be better than "identifies gender, number, and case".
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mizinamo explained why not (in answer to my asking the same question). It's apparently the last post before yours, if you sort the comments by date.
I searched the comments for a similar question and haven't seen it. missed your comment before... Thanks for pointing it out!
can someone help me distinguish kaufen and einkaufen? thanks
kaufen - buy; einkaufen - shop
Ich gehe einkaufen. Ich werde ein Buch kaufen. "I am going shopping. I am going to buy a book."
einkaufen cannot take an object, just as you cannot "shop a book", for example.
Thanks, now I understand the difference. However, I think this would be clearer:
kaufen must have an object.
einkaufen doesn't need an object but can have some.
'Cause I've seen sentences with objects before...?
Yes, einkaufen can take an object -- but rarely, in my experience. It's usually used by itself.
Duo kauft ein neues Flugzeug wöchentlich?
No. The adverb wöchentlich should come right after the verb, if you want to use it: Duo kauft wöchentlich ein neues Flugzeug would have been accepted.
Duo kauft jede Woche ein neues Flugzeug ein - this is incorrect? What is the difference between kaufen and einkaufen?
Duo kauft jede Woche ein neues Flugzeug ein - this is incorrect?
Yes: it's incorrect.
What is the difference between kaufen and einkaufen?
Please see my response to JCFal rather than asking the question again.
What about, Duo kauft einen neuen Flugzeug jede Woche. ?
No.
- Adverbials of time such as jede Woche most naturally come after the verb
- Zeug is neuter, thus also Flugzeug, so masculine accusative einen neuen is not appropriate before Flugzeug
You need Duo kauft jede Woche ein neues Flugzeug.
Can i use 'alle Woche' instead of 'jede Woche' here?
No. alle Woche doesn't make any sense in German.
It doesn't even mean "all week" (= die ganze Woche [lang]).
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And what's correct in cases with numerals? Alle zwei Wochen vs jede zwei Wochen? Thank you!
And what's correct in cases with numerals? Alle zwei Wochen vs jede zwei Wochen?
alle zwei Wochen is correct for "every two weeks".
(Less common is jede zweite Woche for "every second week".)
