37 Comments
The lesson notes emphasize that you don't use "kurz" to describe stature. "Klein" is preferred.
I think "short" should be accepted. The sentence doesn't specify so I would assume it refers to a person. My understanding is that "Nein, er ist klein," could mean "No, he is short." I believe when referring to a person this is preferred over "Nein, er ist kurz." (However I am only a German learner, so I might be wrong!)
Am I the only one who didn't hear the Er in the faster version ?? actually, Er was not pronounced !!!!!!
The sounds blend together slightly with naturally-paced pronunciation. The slower pronunciations (if you have that option) make it clearer if you ever need to check. But your increasing knowledge of grammar will improve your listening comprehension too ('esst klein' doesn't really make a lot of sense).
Ist er groß? Nein, er ist klein.
"Is he tall? No, he is small (short)."
In German if you want to talk about someone's height, you generally use groß/klein.
So groß doesn't refer to weight like in French (and some definitions in English)?
Why accepted me "No, it is small" if it puts " Er, ist klein"? ER ist = HE is, right? And ES ist= IT is
Because in German, like in french, russian, etc. they don't say "it" for all things. Choice of pronoun will depend of gender of a noun. F.e. "Ich habe ein Pferd. Es ist schön" - I have a horse. It is beautiful. Since "Pferd" is neuter, you use "es" "Sie hat einen Hund. Er ist schnell" - She has a dog. It is fast. Here "Hund" is masculine, so we use "er" though in english it stays "it". And similarly "Du hast eine Wohnung. Sie ist groß" - you have a flat. It is big. Since Wohnung is feminine, we use "sie"
Came here for the same reason. Where is the 'My-answer-should-NOT-have-been-accepted' button? xD
Careful, er in German does not necessarily refer to a person! Any masculine noun, no matter how inanimate, can be referred to by er. Same goes for sie and es for feminine and neuter nouns respectively.
— Oh! Dein Schal ist wunderschön!
— Danke! Er ist mein Lieblingsschal. Ich habe ihn vor zwei Jahren zum Geburtstag bekommen ^_^
You do have to put it into the appropriate case form, though -- ich habe ihn vor zwei Jahren zum Geburtstag bekommen.
(And it's dein Schal like ein Schal: no ending for masculine nominative.)
when I listen to the recorded voice I hear "Nein ist Klein", But I know that's not the answer. Anyone else have this problem??
Does anyone else remember this way? I only remember groß as tall. The opposite if gross in english is clean. Close enough to klein which is small. Its funny how close these are to these completely unrelated words in English
Could you also use klein for short, like you use kurz, or does it only mean short?
kurz = short (not long) klein = short/small, so yes it can also be used for short, I just think "kurz" is more "direct":)
er, sie, es can also refer to something that you mentioned before and that has masculine, feminine, or neuter grammatical gender, respectively.
Dies ist mein Löffel. Er ist klein. Dies ist meine Gabel. Sie ist spitz. Dies ist mein Messer. Es ist stumpf. "This is my spoon. It is small. This is my fork. It is pointy. This is my knife. It is blunt."
How exactly is klein being pronounced? I here sch for the k. Is that correct?
