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- Topic: German >
- "Du hast eine Kartoffel."
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What are the meanings of the given translations, supposedly in English, "conk" and "hooter"? Are those slang or dialect words that also mean "potato"? I'm from the US and have never encountered "conk" as a noun, and "hooter" is something that makes a hooting noise, or slang for a breast.
Conk is slang for nose. 'Wow, that man's ugly - he has a huge conk!' 'Yeah, well, you know what they say about men with big conks...' 'Stop sticking your conk in other people's business.'
I can't vouch for Kartoffel meaning either of those, but a conk is the fruiting body of a wood decaying fungus (used very frequently in the forestry industry). I had to google hooter. British slang for a big nose.
You can use 'Kartoffel' jokingly for a big and short nose. My understanding is that you can use 'conk' in the same sense in English. Never heard of 'hooter' ;-) I think it's best (although a little boring) to stick to 'Kartoffel'='potato' :)
I've never heard of conk being used for a big nose. I wonder if it is referencing the fungus, a conk sticks out off of a tree kind of like a nose (with imagination). This is one of the more familiar ones around here...even the wiki picture kind of looks like a nose. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fomes_fomentarius
conk, n.1 Pronunciation: /kɒŋk/ Forms: Also konk. Etymology: Possibly a fig. application of conch n., French conque shell. slang.
a. The nose.
b. The head. So off one's conk: off one's head; crazy.
c. A punch on the nose or head; a blow on any part of the body.
http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/39305
conk, n.2
Pronunciation: /kɒŋk/ Etymology: Apparently variant of conch n.
A fungus which grows on the wood of trees, esp. Trametes pini; also, the disease produced by this fungus. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
Thanks for that. So both the nose and fungus might be referencing similarities to a conch as opposed to each other.
An English-speaker would usually use an article at least, "You are having a potato." However, even with the article, there is a shade of difference in meaning. In talking about food, "you are having" really means "you are eating", not simply "you have in your possession", which I think (someone bilingual can correct me) is the sense of the German text here.
The German sentence is about possession only. In German, "haben" never implies that you're eating/drinking or about to eat/drink something.
Thanks for making that clear about German.
The "having" idiom in English extends to some other kinds of cases where someone might be enjoying or partaking of something, besides eating. "He is having a cigarette." "They are having sex."
Sorry, I'm having real problem with the "Have" words on German. If someone could help and explain a little that would be great!
Danke!
Why does the neuter noun, "Das Kartoffel", become "eine Kartoffel" in this sentence?
What is the difference between ein, eine, and einen. I get that Ein is singular, but eine confuses me because It can be used in both singular and plural form. Please explain :(|
It's about the gender of the noun.
Masculine and neuter nouns: ein
Feminine nouns: eine
It's nonsensical to use eine for plural nouns (e.g. 'a potatoes')
When sentences get more complicated, there are also other endings. Duolingo will teach you!
Du = you when you're talking about one person, while ihr = you when you're talking about more than one person.
So "ihr" could translate to english speakers as "you all". Not that that is the translation, but to differentiate the two better english speakers could imagine how "you" is being used and if it is being used for multiple people (you all) come to the "ihr" conclusion
I've only heard erdapfel, not kartoffel. Though, I was in Austria. Is this a dialect difference?
"Erdapfel" is a regionalism. If you use this word, you may not be understood. In this course, we only accept Standard German as spoken in Germany.
"eine Erdäpfel" is grammatically wrong as well. You'd have to say "Du hast einen Erdapfel".
How to know which food has which Gender ? Is this completely random or is there any rules for determining gender ?
