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- "I usually drink my coffee wi…
"I usually drink my coffee with a lot of milk and sugar."
Translation:Ich trinke meinen Kaffee normalerweise mit viel Milch und Zucker.
79 Comments
Why is using the word "gewöhnlich" wrong? Doesn't it mean "usually"? Doesn't "normalerweise" means "normally"?
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This is exactly the question that i wanted to ask -- I find that I'm constantly being marked wrong for using one vs. the other, but I don't understand the functional distinction.
Both "gewöhnlich" and "normalerweise" are possible in this sentence. Should be accepted.
Duolingo only displays one correct translation, but typically accepts many. Therefore, if you make a mistake elsewhere in the sentence, you may think Duolingo is saying a certain word is wrong when it is not.
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From what I could gather from my hits and misses, it seems that gewöhnlich means "usually" in relation to habits people have (e.g. going to the park, jogging), while normalerweise means "normally" in relation to things or interactions between people and things (in this case, how you take your coffee).
Does the direct object have to come before the adverb modifying the verb? English is flexible with respect to adverb placement. Is German more strict?
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I think it is similar to English. You would not say "I drink normally my coffee with milk and sugar" The adverb would come before the prepositional phrase, "I drink my coffee normally with milk and sugar" or, the adverb would come first, "Normally I drink my coffee with milk and sugar" .
Usually the adverb in German either starts the sentence, or comes after the verb. BUT when a prepositional phrase is included, the adverb goes before the prepositional phrase.
https://deutsch.lingolia.com/de/grammatik/adverbien (See last bullet under "Wo steht das Adverb im deutschen Satz."
So, I believe, 'Ich trinke normalerweise meinen Kaffee mit Milch und Zucker" is incorrect.
Most English speakers would modify the verb with the adverb before it: "I normally drink my coffee with milk and sugar." About 90% of the time we say it this way. About 8% of the time we'll say "Normally, I drink...." and less than 2% will say "I drink my coffee normally..." Or less than 2%. It's awkward.
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What defines the location of normalerweise in a sentence? Why is it wrong to put it in the beginning?
It is not wrong. "Normalerweise" could be placed at the beginning of the sentence: "Normalerweise trinke ich meinen Kaffee mit viel Milch und Zucker." But pay attention: the verb ALWAYS belongs in the SECOND place in a German main clause.
I came looking for just this advice, about putting "Normalerweise" first and getting it marked wrong, but I realize the error message was about me missing the "akusativ" later in the sentence.
Why "veil" and not "veilen"? Is it because "milk" and "sugar" are non-count nouns? I've searched around for such a rule but haven't found one.
"viel" (correct spelling) is an adjective for the singular nouns "milk" and "sugar" acting as dative objects (after the preposition "mit" that needs the dative case). With nouns in plural, it would be "vielen": "mit vielen Grüßen" (with many greetings).
I still don't understand why "viel" is correct and not "vielen", as dative case always requires -en declension. Does it has something to do with the fact that there are two nouns?
No, they are both singular nouns. The "-en" ending is only for dative plural. Think of it as the difference between "much" and "many": "He has too much hair" versus "He has too many hairs."
If mit goes with dative, and milch is feminine and singular noun, shouldn't it be vieler then?
"It depends on whether or not you're speaking about something that can be counted.":
https://germanwithnicole.com/blog/deutsch-lernen/viel-oder-viele
The same with: "wenig"/"wenige"
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The dictionary notes say the viel stays unchanged in the singular unless it follows an article/determiner, in which case it gets declined as usual. In the plural it is usually declined even when there is no article.
So I think it must be a special case, otherwise it should be declined like any other dative feminine adjective.
See my response to Peter_Gman:
"It depends on whether or not you're speaking about something that can be counted.":
https://germanwithnicole.com/blog/deutsch-lernen/viel-oder-viele
The same with: "wenig"/"wenige"
Yes, it's the difference between "much" and "many" as well as "few" and "less."
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So you would say that it's declined for countable nouns, but not for uncountable nouns?
I don't think that can be the whole story because you have sentences like "woher kommt die viele Milch?" where milk is uncountable but it's 'viele' following the article.
"Ich trinke meinen Kaffee normalerweise mit viel Milch und Zucker." why is that correct and: "Ich trinke normalerweise meinen Kaffee mit viel Milch und Zucker." wrong?
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Duo wants to make "usually = gewöhnlich" and "normally = normalerweise" synonyms, but they are not!
I typed "Ich trinke gewöhnlich meinen Kaffe mit viel Milch und Zucker." and was marked wrong for this. How come?
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"Gewöhnlich, ich trinke meinen Kaffee mit viel Milch und Zucker." was marked wrong. Anyone know why?
It's a wrong word order. If you start your sentence with "gewöhnlich" (the adverb), you should put the verb in the second place after the adverb. You shouldn't also insert the comma.
Gewöhnlich trinke ich meinen Kaffee mit viel Milch und Zucker.
I began the sentence with "Normalerweise" but it's considered incorrect. Any idea why?
Should also be correct, when you put the verb "trinke" directly after it.
It gave me a different translation Meist trinke ich meinen Kaffee mit viel Milch und Zucker.
I said Ich trinke normalerweise meinen Kaffee mit veil Milch und Zucker misspelled viel, but otherwise ????
I didn't see any. But they check your answer anyway before accepting it as correct answer (maybe after correcting it).
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"Gewoenlich trinke Ich meinen Kaffee mit viel Milch und Zucker" was accepted 04-Jul-19. (Sorry, this keyboard has no umlauts)
Hi. If your keyboard does not have umlauts (or the German "eszett"), you may substitute them like this: "Ä"->"Ae", "Ö"->"Oe", "Ü"->"Ue"; "ä"->"ae", "ö"-> "oe", "ü"->"ue" and "ß"->"ss".
I believe that viel works differently from other articles whet uncountable nouns are used. Since "Milch" and "Zucker" are both uncountable nouns, viel is used. If they were countable, as in "mit vielen Katzen und Hunde", then the dative is indeed used. I'm not totally sure though.
What is wrong with "normalweise, trinke ich meinen kaffee mit viel milch und zucker"
I gave the exact same answer, and it was because, like you, I misspelled 'normalerweise' (note the 'er' missing in your answer also)!
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The problem is with "trinke": You can have "Ich" or "Normalerweise" before "trinke," but not both.
It is a German oddity that, in most sentences, the first verb must be the second word in the sentence, even though participles and infinitives usually go to the end.
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I was rejected with "Ich trinke meinen Kaffee gewöhnlich mit viele Milch und Zucker", but was accepted with "Ich trinke meinen Kaffee gewöhnlich mit viel Milch und Zucker". Apparently my mistake was with "viele". I thought I should have used "viele" because Milch is feminine. But then Zucker is masculine. So apparently to modify a group of nouns of different genders with one adjective, the adjective should be without any ending changes, i.e. in its "original" form. Is this a correct observation?
No, "It depends on whether or not you're speaking about something that can be counted.":
https://germanwithnicole.com/blog/deutsch-lernen/viel-oder-viele
The same with: "wenig"/"wenige"
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"Gewöhlich trinke ich meinen Kaffee mit viel Milch und Zucker" is not accepted... why? Could you help me?
Why wasn't "Ich trinke gewöhnlich meinen Kaffee mit viel Milch und Zucker" be accepted when "Er geht gewöhnlich in den Park" is correct? Why can't I put the adverb in the third position?
You can. So "Ich trinke gewöhnlich meinen Kaffee mit viel Milch und Zucker." is a correct German sentence and should be accepted.
What is wrong with "Normalerweise trinke ich meinen KAffee mit viel Milch und Zucker"?
It is not wrong. Duo seems to not know this word yet. Report it next time.
is "Ich trinke gewöhnlich meinen Kaffee mit viel Milch und Zucker." also correct? i thought adverb like "gewöhnlich" is generally placed after the verb ?
Please help.. I put 'Normalweise trinke ich meinen Kaffee mit viel Milch und Zucker. Marked wrong. Is this because i didn't spell Normaleweise correctly or because this is grammatically incorrect? If so. Why? Thanks for any reply in advance.
Looks grammatically correct. So I think it is marked incorrect because of the typo: should be "Normalerweise" ("er" after "Normal").
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I think 'vielen' would be correct if it were a noun in plural form. It is different than two singular words being treated as a plural. Furthermore, I believe 'viel' does not have any declination because 'Milch und Zucker' is being treated as a whole particle, and not by the gender of each individual word.
No, it's because in this example, viel means "much" and not "many." "Much" in German (Viel) does not change form, but many (viele) does. You don't say "I drink my coffee with many milk and sugar. If you have a quantifiable noun that can have a plural (for instance, sugar cubes), that would use the word "many" and that would change form: Ich trinke meinen Kaffee mit viel Milch und vielen Zuckerwürfeln
Is it possible to use the word "allgemein" in the sentence - meaning I generally drink.... ?
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i do not see why the word usually cannot come at the beginning of the sentence ie.Normalerweise trinke ich meinen Kaffee mit viel Milch und Zucker.
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Usually = üblicherweise wird als falsch gewertet. Die Leute von Duolingo müssen noch viel lernen ...
Why not make it easier to learn by phrasing it differently in English? I drink my coffee usually with a lot of milk and sugar
For the people wondering why the answer is "viel" instead of "viele": In this example, viel means "much" and not "many." "Much" in German (Viel) does not change form, but many (viel, viele, vielen) does. You don't say "I drink my coffee with many milk and sugar." If you have a quantifiable noun that can have a plural (for instance, sugar cubes), that would use the word "many" and that would change form: "Ich trinke meinen Kaffee mit viel Milch und vielen Zuckerwürfeln." Notice how the feminine "Milch" STILL doesn't have "viele" in front of it?
Here " normalaweise" comes after the word "kaffee" as the verb - trinke takes the position 2...
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Ich trinke mein Kaffee gewöhnlich mit viel Milch und Zucker. Why is meinen in the accusative case? Also, why does Duo constantly change around and mark you wrong on certain words, such as "normalerweise" and "gewohnlich". The sentence clearly says I usually....but when you enter gewohnlich it is wrong. Same with normalerweise. I have also seen this happen with Mensch and Person.
"meinen" is in accusative case, because "Kaffee" is the accusative object of this sentence and the possessive pronoun "meinen" has to accord with it. "gewöhnlich" should also be accepted.
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Specifically, because "Kaffee" is masculine, and masculine nouns must show accusative case. The other two genders do not show accusative case. Perhaps you thought "Kaffee" was a "das" word?
