"Sprechen Sie nicht mit ihm, während er fährt."
Translation:Do not speak to him while he is driving.
17 Comments
Check your spelling or the task (was it "write what you hear"?). "Do not speak to him while he drives" is accepted.
Sprechen Sie! is a command (it starts with the verb). Commands in English don't usually include the subject -- so it's just "Don't speak!" and not "Don't you speak!" or "You don't speak!".
No. Commands addressed to Sie use the verb form for Sie — Sie sprechen “you speak” turns into sprechen Sie! “speak!”.
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Sorry, was this a reply to my post? So is Sprich du nicht mit ihm wrong?
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**@mizinamo. I don't know why. I thought I'd covered this in previous lesson. So what's the right way to say it? Sprich nicht mit ihm? I'm thinking you don't need du in the sentence. Vaguely remembering now.
Thank you! I tried "Sprich nicht mit ihm, während er fährt" and it was accepted. May I know what is the difference between "Sprechen Sie" and without "Sie"?
I tried "Sprechen nicht mit ihm, während er fährt" and it was accepted.
It shouldn't have been.
What kind of exercise was this?
May I know what is the difference between "Sprechen Sie" and without "Sie"?
For a command addressed to Sie, only sprechen Sie! is correct, not sprechen!
(There is an impersonal command that does not use Sie, but that uses different grammar -- that would be Nicht mit ihm sprechen, während er fährt. That kind of construction is most often found on signs that do not address any particular person.)
If you are speaking to du (one person whom you know well), then you say Sprich!
If you are speaking to ihr (several people whom you know well), then you say Sprecht!
If you are speaking to Sie (one or more people whom you do not know well), then you say Sprechen Sie!
The command forms for du and ihr are proper imperatives, and (like English commands) do not mention the subject. (We say "Speak!" or "Don't speak!" rather than "Speak you!" or "You speak!".)
Sie acts grammatically like a third-person pronoun, so its command form is technically a subjunctive, not an imperative, and has to include the pronoun.
My answer was "don't speak with him while he travels"; I concede the english sounds a bit awkward but it should be correct, shouldn't it? If not, can somebody explain why?
