"Dein Mann isst das Brot."
Translation:Your husband eats the bread.
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I like to imagine a girl cocking her head while doing a Z-snap with her finger saying "Your Man is eating all the bread! Mmmmmhmm!"
But yeah, for colloquial, Husband would be better
Yes -- I'm wondering about the context here. Does it mean something in particular in German? "Your man" isn't a common expression in English. Could mean your husband, your male friend (slang), your employee (not very PC).
The personal pronouns go according to the gender of whomever is being referred to, right?
Do you mean the possessive pronoun? It goes to the gender of the noun it refers to , not necessarily the person. Usually, the person and gender of the noun match, as in the case of Dein Mann. But not always -- for instance "my girl" -- since Madchen is neuter, it would be "mein Mädchen", not "meine Mädchen".
I thought this was quite funny. 'Your man' is a common phrase here in Northern Ireland and I work with a German guy who finds it funny when we say it, as it isn't proper English. But in this case, Dein Mann is used haha. I have to screen shot this and send it to him, hah!
As a fellow Norn Iron man, I can agree. I'm just waiting to see "yer doll isst das Brot" next. :D
Calling your husband "your man" is pretty fun. In America saying "your man" refers to a really possessive context in oftentimes petty conversation. Funny that they make us say that in German.
"deine Zeitung mag ich" - would this be the same irrespective of whether I say this to a man or a woman??
What would you change? The Deine refers to the newspaper, because Zeitung is feminine. There isn't anything in the sentence that refers to your audience, so it wouldn't matter if you were speaking to a man or a woman, one person or many, formal or informal, would it?
Could you use "den" instead of "das" in this sentence?
What is the difference between 'das' and 'den'?
Thanks!
No sir you cannot use 'den' instead of 'das'
Each noun has a gender: Masculine, Neuter and Feminine. Bread is neuter, Das Brot.
However that is not why we don't use 'den' First let's ask what is the difference between 'der' and 'den', because they both mean 'the' and both are used on masculine nouns.
The difference is that 'der' is used on Subject nouns, and 'den' is used on Accusative nouns. Subjects are performing the verb, Accusatives are receiving the action of the verb.
"The man wears the button" - The man is doing the wearing, so he is the subject. The button is being worn, so it is in the Accusative case.
Here's the example with the two nouns in German: Der Mann, und Der Knopf (button)
In german - "Der Mann tragt den Knopf" Notice how Der Knopf changed to Den Knopf. This is because Knopf is being worn, and thus is accusative.
SO!
Why do we say "Das Brot" ? Shouldn't that change in the accusative case, since after all the bread is being eaten by the man?
Well no.
http://german.about.com/library/blcase_acc.htm Scroll down a hair.
This lists all the instances when Der, Das, and Die change depending on the case Subjective, Accusative, etc..
In Accusative case, only Der changes to Den. The rest stay the same. In other cases, there are more changes. But for the accusative case, that is all.
Therefore Das Brot is correct.
Phew
Woah. That was the most comprehensive answer :-) thank you so much, it makes a lot of sense!
No problem!
This may sound ironic, paradoxical, or even wrong, but the best way to learn is to teach.
I'm certainly no expert on German. But when someone has a question that I at least think I know the answer to, I try to answer it and teach it fully. If I doubt myself, then I look it up to confirm what I'm trying to teach. If I can't be 100% sure what I'm trying to teach/share is 100% correct, I will not post it. Instead I'll try to add to the question.
I highly encourage you to try teaching too. This process essentially forces you to re-study the material, but more importantly while you prepare the material for teaching you are being HIGHLY analytical of what you are saying (to ensure you aren't incorrect) which really really helps you understand all the itty bitty details.
I also don't mind writing lengthy explanations, although I try to keep it short for the sake of the reader...