"Meine Frau kennt alle Antworten."

Translation: My wife knows all the answers.

[Fred_Reimers]

Is there a grammatical rule that excludes the word "die" in front of "Antworten"? Or was it excluded because this is the casual way German speakers would say this sentence?

[MauriceReeves]

I think in this case it means more like "My wife knows everything," in the rhetorical sense, instead of say, looking at a test and saying "My wife knows all the answers." This is more like a husband saying "My old lady has all the answers." Make more sense?

[Zach1337]

This has me completely stumped. I will give 5 lingots to anyone who can answer this question!

[Interpretitis]

If you take him at his word, this man's wife should be able to help you out.

[FrankySka]

I don't know a specific rule (so don't give me lingots ;) ) but If you said "Meine Frau kennt all ('alle' sounds wrong once you add the 'die' - which might just be convention for ease of speaking) die Antworten" you would mean specific answers (e.g. to a set of exam questions you are just talking about). However, I think as you cannot know the context in Duo it is one of those sentences that might be considered correct. Either they simply do not that answer yet, or the idea is that in 90% of cases you would translate the sentence as Duo suggests right now. Sorry I cannot give a better answer, but maybe it helps a little bit

[Zach1337]

Thanks Franky.:)

[Rafaa.]

Duo is married? D:
my world is crushed!

[clackz]

my lady knows all the answers should be accepted D:

[lazar.ljubenovic]

When "Frau" is used with possessive pronoun such as "meine" it means "wife". (Not a native speaker nor I know German outside of Duolingo, saying from my experience from previous lessons and some comments I read here.)

[ElleLingo]

No, it means wife. 'Dame' is probably what Germans would use to mean 'lady'. Any natives who can comment?

[Crumblus.Crisp]

Shouldn't it be "weiß?"

[MauriceReeves]

As in my other answer above, I think the speaker in this sentence is speaking broadly, almost like you'd say "God knows all the answers." You wouldn't use wissen in that case because you're not speaking about a specific case but instead speaking rhetorically. This sentence sounds like a guy sitting at the bar griping about his wife being a know-it-all. Not that that's something we ever do. Ever. Especially not if my wife's reading this.

[Germandy]

In German, "to know" can be both "kennen" and "wissen". In this sentence they are pretty interchangeable, however, sometimes they have to be distinguished. This will help understanding: http://german.about.com/library/anfang/blanfang16.htm

[rfaja]

Isn't kennen to "know someone or some place" whereas "wissen" is to "know a fact"? At least that's how they teach it in college and high school.

[christozzo]

That's how I was taught.

[Armistice023]

I remember being told that by a friend who was in Germany for a few yrs. I never learned it in school... that I remember

[MauriceReeves]

I mentioned this debate to my mom this morning because she's from Germany and she said that in this case, the way the sentence is phrased, it's a sarcastic "Jesus, my wife thinks she's got all the answers" kind of phrase, instead of a "My wife took that test, and she aced it." In that second case, you'd use wissen.

[christian]

Both are fine.

[fillipvt]

Why "Frau" is better placed as "Wife in the context of this phrase? Is it because of the usage of "meine"?.

I ask this simply because I have a confusion about "Freund". What's the difference between "Sie ist meine Freundin" and "Sie ist eine Freundin", is the first one referring to a girlfriend?.

Thanks in advance.

[kalukuhan]

With Frau, "meine Frau" implies "wife" because of the "meine." I suppose that if we were translating the English phrase "my woman," into German it would also be "meine Frau," but it seems like a less likely situation. I'm not so sure about "meine/eine Freundin."

[BlazingFast]

As kalukuhan said, he is right. Same thing with Meine... Fruendin: your friend that is a girl; however in German, that's interpreted as girlfriend. There's another way of saying "my friend" (that is a girl) that clarifies the relationship. Useful if you don't want to make things awkward. I don't remember it though.

[BlazingFast]

I looked it up: you say eine Freundin von mir... A friend (girl) of mine.

[Tash.Owl]

How do you know whether to use 'alle' or 'alles', what's the difference?

[kalukuhan]

If I'm not mistaken, "Alles" could be used here a noun meaning "everything," and would be used alone (Meine Frau kennt Alles), while here it is an adjective modifying the plural noun "Antworten" and doesn't take the "s" ending.