71 Comments
But you don't know if the sentence means "you have shirts" or "they have shirts."
Exactly, I am confused as well. Sie haben Hemden could mean either 'they' or '(f.) you'. Since 'Sie' begins the sentence could it not be 'they' disguised by the capitalization? If you look at the verb it would be 'hat' if 'Sie' was 'she', but it's clearly not, so how do you distinguish between 'you' and 'they'? Is this simply based on context?
The only way to know is to see how the verb is conjugated if it was sie (singular) the verb would be: Sie hat Hemden. Haben (to have) is irregular The conjugation for haben is Ich habe Du hast sie/er/es hat Wir haben Ihr habt Sie haben (Sie meaning they) The case of most verbs (regular) the conjugation goes: Gehen for example Ich gehe (ends with a e) Du gehst (ends with st) sie/er/es geht (ends with t) Wir gehen (is the full verb or the infinitive) Ihr geht (ends with t) Sie gehen (Sie that means they also takes the infinitive) Hope that helps
I, in the past, have had this conversation with my German relatives and I came to understand that there is no way you would know. The only way you would know which was meant is by the conversation you would be having, the subject of which, I'm assuming, would be understood by all parties involved.
According to the conjugated verb.
Sie hat ... = She has ...
Sie haben = They/you (formal) have ...
I agree. This does not sound like how my German teacher pronounces it, she is much clearer with the vowels. (She is a native speaker btw.)
I checked the pronounciation and Duo's is correct.
I listened repeatedly and only heard 'hem' every time. Is the Den part silent?
I wrote she has shirts And got it wrong So if it has have said sie hat hemden i would have. Been correct?
The audio is really bad. 'Hemden' sounds like 'Hemd'. The speakers need to properly enunciate their words.
Can, "Sie haben Hemden" also be, "You have shirts"? The program seems to say so.
Yes. "Sie" = formal you, (singular or plural) conjugated just like "sie" (they).
Why Sie haben Hemd is not possible ? If it's you the person can have only one shirt And if it's they the group can also have only one shirt
No... I have lots of shirts in my wardrobe. I'm sure you do,too. Haben here means 'possess', not 'wear'.
Because "they have shirt" doesn't make sense without an article. You could say they have A shirt or they have THE shirt, which would be "Sie haben ein Hemd" or "Sie haben das Hemd." (Ein/das because it is neuter).
This man's pronunciation is really confusing, he says "hem" instead of "hemden" , and this is just an example. Normal?!
Can one use the verb 'haben' with the same meaning of 'tragen'? I.e., can "Sie haben Hemden" both mean that they have shirts or that they are wearing shirts? Thanks
No, notice the effect of capitalization.
"sie" can mean she and they. "Sie" at the start of a sentence can mean 'she', 'they', or 'you'. "Sie" somewhere other than the start of a sentence can only mean 'you'.
Which word? I think "Sie" is pronounced like "Zee". I think the rest are pronounced like they're spelled, but I might be wrong.
Oh my goodness I didn't wveb realize these cimments where here for help. This app just became even more incredible.
In regular speed: "Wir haben Hemden". In slow speed: "Sie haben Hemden"
They have shirts or Sie haben Hemden. Can be confusing. Sie "They" or Sie "She depend on the ending of such words like "Haben" To have "Hast" Has .
It can also be "Du hast" You have, " Ihr habt" Y'all have or You've, "Ich habe" I have.
So how do you tell if its 'you have' or 'they have' in this case? I really thought it was 'they have shirts' 'You' wasnt at all in my mind, I expected a 'Du'???
'you' in this sentence is the 'royal' form right? Which has the same verb as 'they' so why is they wrong? There is no way to tell
I think duo made mistake here - 'Sie' could mean formal 'you' but the app itself translates it as 'they' (when you click on Sie). Grammatically their translation is correct but as a system there's mistaken. Sie shall be given 'you' as an option when you tapp on translation and it shall accept 'they".
why is the plural of hemd is hemden?das hemd is neuter, and also a one syllable noun, so shouldn't it be die hemde?
No. That has nothing to do with it, unfortunately. There are five different plural forms, and one just has to learn them. That is, das Buch is neuter, and also a one-syllable noun, yet the plural of das Buch is die Bücher. And the plural of das Pferd is die Pferde. So, there’s no way to predict which plural form a noun will take.
Technically, "You have shirts" should also be an accepted answer since 'Sie' starts the sentence (and thus is capitalized no matter what), and there is no context between "you" and "they".
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When the automated voice pronounced this, the "en" at the end of "Hemden" is kinda hard to hear. The first time it came up I got it wrong because I heard "Hemd" instead of "Hemden."
Just for prnunciation sake, can anyone confirm that the den of hemden is always so understated?
Yes. It’s an unstressed syllable, just like the last syllable of the English words “lemon”, “written”, or “sofa”. They don’t say “hem-DEN”, any more than we say “lem-ON” or “writ-TEN”.
