"Welchem Freund schreibst du?"
Translation:Which friend are you writing to?
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why is it welcheM? I don't see how this is dative. theres no mit, aus, auf, bei, zu, zum, zur, zun, am, hilft, danke, or anything like that anywhere.
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Because you need dative to indicate to WHOM you write, http://german.about.com/library/blcase_dat.htm
Think of it this way, the object of the sentence is what he is writing. In English it would be:
"Which friend is he writing <a letter/book>?"
or as a statement:
"He writes a letter for his friend. "
but if we leave off "a letter":
"He writes his friend"
the "for" is implied.
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We would never leave the "to" out of the sentence in British English, which means there is no ambiguity implied. Indeed, it sounds like half a sentence.
As an American English speaker, the question "Which friend are you writing?" has no ambiguity, even without the preposition.
As a native English speaker (US), if I see the sentence, "He writes his friend", that would mean "He writes to his friend". If you want to say, "He writes a letter for his friend", then, in my opinion, you would need to have for in the sentence. Then (again, in my opinion) you would also need to have a letter in the sentence.
If someone were to say to me "He writes for his friend" then I would ask, "What is he writing for his friend?"
As a native English speaker (US) if I saw "he writes his friend" I would lament that schools no longer teach grammar.
On the other hand, I'd have a hard time explaining why "he tells his friend" should be acceptable and "he writes his friend" should not be. His friend isn't what's being told or what's being written, but are indirect objects in both cases.
I can tell you a story or write you a letter. So why can I tell you but not write you? It's just convention, not because of a logical rule.
I'd still say that I'd tell his friend and I'd write to his friend, but only because it sounds better to me and not because of any ambiguity.
right whelchem is for dative parts of a sentance, which I didn't know the first word could be a dative part of a sentace, I thought it had to be after mit, or danke, or zu or zum, or something like that.
"You didn't know the first word could be dative..." as in "Dem deutschen Volke." QED.
Unfortunately, this site is no longer available and I really miss it.
German declension of adjectives: http://germanforenglishspeakers.com/reference/complete-declension-tables/
You can look up a particular word here: https://www.verbformen.com/declension/articles/welcher.htm
Without the "friend," yes, that would be correct. But "To whom are you writing?" is not the same as "To which friend are you writing?"
If we were to flip the sentence to "Which friend writes to you?", would that be "Welcher Freund schreibt dir?"
When translating to German, how do we know when we need a preposition such as "zu", which I assumed would be found here? Why is it okay to omit the preposition here?
Indirect objects don't need "to" in German, because the form of the noun changes to Dative case which is enough information.
I'm so confused between 'you' verbs, and 'he/she/it' verbs. I answered this question 'Which friend writes you?'!
It's easy to get confused. Two things in this sentence should help clear up the confusion.
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WelchEM with the -EM dative ending, which means it is the indirect object, not the subject.
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"schreibSt" with the -ST 2nd person singular ending, which goes with "du" for "you write."
Oh--thanks! The 'welchEM' hint will be so helpful, since the 's' in schreibSt, which is the way I was trying to figure it out by, is so easy to over look or confuse!
Why is it 'Meinen Freunden geht es gut,' for 'My friends are doing well,' but 'Welchem Freund schreibst du,' for 'Which friend are you writing to'?
Why does 'Freund' get altered only in one case and not the other? If it was 'Freunde' in the second sentence, would that become 'Freunden' too?
Thanks!
It's because in the first sentence, the noun is in plural form. Just to remember as a general rule, an "-n" or an "-en" are added to all nouns in the dative plural. If the noun in the plural ends with "-n" or "-s," nothing will be added.
The second sentence, Freund is in singular form. If it's in plural form Freunde, then it will be "Welchen Freunden".
How would you say "Which girlfriend are you writing to?" "Welcher Freundin schreibst du?"
If you change the word order it makes more sense why it's dative. "You write to which friend." Subject: You; Verb: write; Direct object: implied letter/text message/email); Indirect object: Friend; Indirect object needs to be in dative. "welchem Freund"
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Because you are writing to your friend. "Which friend writes to you" would be " Welcher Freund schreibt dir"
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When asking a question in English, you need to reverse the subject and verb order. So "you are writing" is a statement; the question is "are you writing?"
I put here "to which one friend do you write" and corrects me as " to which Boyfriend do you write?" This is silly
Well, I think Duo is trying to point out that there is a difference between Freund and Freundin...?
For some reason, I automatically think that this is asking "which friend writes to you?" How is this not the answer? I don't quite understand for some reason.
Shouldn't it be which freind are you writing about instead of which friend are you writing
No the Dative case shows that friend is the indirect object which recieves the writing. “Which friend are you writing to?” or rather “To which friend are you writing?” could be another possibility. You don’t have to put the preposition “to” in English and it is never put in German as the Dative case is enough.
Your sentence takes a preposition in German as well: https://dictionary.reverso.net/english-german/Write+about
It accepts 'which friend are you writing' but the correct answer is with a to at the end
Am I right in thinking that in German 'schreibe' is used to refer to texting and stuff as well as writing something like a physical letter?
what should i say if i want to say "which friend writes you?" in german?
I think at this point in the learning, the voices need to be better and less cut up, as the distinction between certain consonants and clarity of the sentences is getting hazy with this audio.
welchem - the hints say 'to whom', so why don't you?????????????????????
I think my microphone is not working because I spoke the correct answer, and was marked incorrect!
(I am wrong. xxNo, "Freund" is a friend who just happens to be a boy. He is in the friend zone.xx He can be a boyfriend.)
I'm pretty sure Freund was used as boy friend in another lesson and that's why I'm questioning it. I may not be recalling it correctly though
You are right! It can be used that way so please report it as also correct. https://www.duolingo.com/dictionary/German/Freund/be2d12852c11b09eda38ff919f8b0fca
For these endings, use the pattern NEXE (X means no ending): meineN (masculine), meinE (feminine), mein (neuter), meinE (plural). This doesn't really relate to this particular sentence except it was in the tips section before these practice sentences. I really don't understand how this "tip" is supposed to be used. Can someone clarify this for me?
Those are Accusative endings used for a noun used as a direct object or after an Accusative preposition. "Welchem Freund" is the indirect object which is in Dative case.
' To which friend are you writing ', might be preferable to ending the sentence with a preposition in the English translation. It's the dative case because the ' friend ' is the indirect object ( ie. receiving the letter, e-mail, etc. ).
My lessons were rearranged and i lost the lesson on dative. Anybody know how i can either find it or get it back???