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- Topic: German >
- "Sie haben Hemden."
128 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.
"Sie haben" could mean the both " you (all) have" and "they have". If i'm mistaken someone correct me please !
It could be also you (in singular way) have. Remember Sie is used for singular an plural in a formal way. Here, with this example it will depend completely on the context so that you can understand the context.
No. “Sie haben X” is either “they have X”, or “you (formal) have X.”
“She has X” ==> Sie hat X.
"you (all) have" would be ihr not sie. Sie means either she or they. I know your post is 6 years old, but...
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I was also confused by this problem for a long time, until I realised that Germans sometimes have the same problem:
In a film I watched, a bank manager is woken in the middle of the night by knocking at his door. He opens it to find policemen standing outside. "Sie haben die Bank ausgeraubt" says one of them.
The bank manager, confused and shocked, responds "Wer? Ich?!"
"Nein" answers the policeman. "Drei Männer, sie haben die Bank ausgeraubt."...
After that, I felt better about being confused sometimes :-)
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According to the conjugated verb.
Sie hat ... = She has ...
Sie haben = They/you (formal) have ...
That does not help if Sie is a formal you. Both use the same verb form.
True. In that case, IRL you have to depend on the context: are you talking to a person, or about several people?
When 'sie ist' is there it is she and when 'sie sind' is there it is they.
Trial and error, my friend. If i can suggest.. Look up a table for verb endings and draw it. Sie werden lernen. I hope i was right. Time to use google translate. I still get confused.
I checked the pronounciation and Duo's is correct.
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 listened repeatedly and only heard 'hem' every time. Is the Den part silent?
The audio is really bad. 'Hemden' sounds like 'Hemd'. The speakers need to properly enunciate their words.
I wrote she has shirts And got it wrong So if it has have said sie hat hemden i would have. Been correct?
This man's pronunciation is really confusing, he says "hem" instead of "hemden" , and this is just an example. Normal?!
It’s a computer. The voice actually does say Hemden, though, but the last syllable is less strongly pronounced, more like /hemdn/. It’s not two clearly separated syllables like ‘hem-den’, if that was what you were expecting to hear.
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).
The thing is that for native English speakers it is a little bit hard to focus on the conjugation of the verb, since in English the only difference would be the 's' for the third person. For us, as native Spanish speakers, it's easier since we have more conjugations. So, tip: when in doubt, check the verb. If you already know which verb it's being used, take a quick look at Wordreference or a similar website that gives you the chance to conjugate verbs. Although Duolingo let you see the conjugation when hovering over verbs.
Well, these are my 2 cents. Good luck!!
It shouldn't be. "Sie ____en" is either "they" or "you" (formal, singular or plural).
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).
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
Sie is a homonym - and annoying since all 3 "sie's" are pronouns (sie/she, Sie/you(formal), sie/they). But it's like bear (the animal) and bear (the verb (to carry/support)). You have to look at the words around it to know which they want.
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.
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."
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.
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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".
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”.
It's telling me that the correct answer is you have shirts. My answer was The have shirts. I forgot the "y" in they which the app usually picks up on.
Again with the missing dot (.) Only reason you get the wrong answer is because the dot is missing.
Because they are not specific shirts, just shirts in general.
“There’s a nice souvenir shop on Main Street. We should check them out. They have shirts.”
why is the plural of Hemd, Hemden; if the plural of Hund is Humde; Fisch, Fische, Tier. Tiere ?
Plurals are not always formed the same way. See for instance "Ei", which becomes "Eier"; "Erdebeere" becomes "Erdebeeren". Sometimes the word doesn't even change: "das Mädchen", "die Mädchen".
I also would like to ask, as a neuter noun, why is Hemd receiving a feminine "-en" suffix for pluralization? Wouldn't Hemde (as previously posted) or even Hemder be more appropriate for neuters?
You don’t. There are five different plural forms, and one just has to learn which one is correct for a specific noun.
The robot voice sucks. It sounds like "Hennigan". I played it over and over, and it never sounded like anything else.
Try heading over to forvo.com and search for german words there, they usually have natives pronouncing the words!
I typoed on this but because shorts are also clothing, it marked as wrong instead of a typo. I gotta check before hitting enter.
The "d" isn't silent. Hemd is pronounced Hem-dt. German "d" often sounds like "dt" or "t".
It does mean ‘you’ (formal).
Sie haben Pferde. = ‘You (formal) have horses.’
sie haben Pferde. = ‘they have horses’.
sie hat Pferde. = ‘she has horses.’
