"Do you have parents?"
Translation:Hast du Eltern?
32 Comments
Why was "Sie haben Eltern" correct? "sie" is "they" or "she", not "you", right?
sie - she(with singular verb) or they(with plural verb), Sie(*capital S!!) - formal you
Why was "Haben du Eltern" wrong and "Haben Sie Eltern" the correct solution?
When using the informal you "du", there is a different conjugation of the verb. For the verb "haben", this would be "hast." ex: Du hast Eltern. Hast du einen Tisch?
"Haben Sie Eltern" was correct because the formal you "Sie" was used; we know this because of the capitalization of "Sie" in the middle of the sentence. The conjugation for formal you "Sie" is the same as the conjugation for they "sie" (note that this is not capitalized unless it begins the sentence). ex: Haben Sie Zeit? (Do you have time?), "Sie haben einen Hund" (You have a dog.)
"Dich" is "yourself." Also, "du hast Eltern?" would not be entirely incorrect, but has an incredulous or surprised tone (literally, "you have parents?") More correct would "Hast du Eltern?" (informal) or "Haben Sie Eltern?" (formal)
That would work, so maybe it should be reported.. However, you would have to say this with a question, just like in English: You have parents?
Evidently there is no real word for "parent." On another thread someone recommended using the compound word of Elternteil (parents part)
Elternteil is indeed used as 'a parent', but it's quite formal in German. You'd find it on official forms for example.
Why is 'Hast du die Eltern' wrong? Is it because I'm asking about parents in general, and die Eltern would be only about a certain pair of parent? Or is it just a bug?
In German, just like in English, you can choose whether to have definite/indefinite articles or not to have them, depending on the specificity that you're trying to achieve. ..So yes, your first point is correct :))
Why did Duo tell us on an exercise 'Everybody has parents,' and now they are asking 'do you have parents....' Really, I am confused.
