"Sie sehen den Mond."

Translation: They see the moon.

[dixinho]

any insight here on den vs die?

[Lynne336260]

same question. Why "den"?

[mizinamo]

Mond is masculine in German (der Mond), and it's the direct object of sehen so has to be in the accusative case.

So you need the masculine accusative article den.

die would be feminine or plural.

[Lynne336260]

Thanks @mizinamo I will never complain about gender in French again :)

[dixinho]

seriously! god bless romance languages for their "simplicity" compared to german!

[Abhilash07]

Lol same here. When I studied French first, came up with too much complains for getting hang to gender

[BigBen624]

So "Sie" can be "she" and "they" correct? How do you know when Sie is being used as "She" and when "Sie" is being used as "they"?

[14rfe]

Sie can be used as she, they and you (formal). "She" will have a different verb ending (-t) to the others (which will end in -en) and "you" (formal) will have a capital "S". :-)

[ThomasZauc]

Based on the conjugation of the verbs in the sentence. Conjugatuon of er/sie/es versus Sie/sie.

[SansEspoir83]

I also need more clarification on this as it's failed me a million times now because I keep thinking she sees the moon.

How does this sentence of "they see the moon" differ from "she sees the moon"? What am I missing?

[mizinamo]

How does this sentence of "they see the moon" differ from "she sees the moon"?

As 14rfe already mentioned in a reply to the comment you replied to, "she" verb forms end in -t while "they" verb forms end in -en.

they see = sie sehen

she sees = sie sieht

[SansEspoir83]

Thanks, this was much clearer :)

[SimonEliasen]

would "You can see the moon" not be an accetable translation to this text or where am i going wrong?

[tholenst2]

"You see the moon" should be accepted.

"You can see the moon" is, in the polite form, "Sie können den Mond sehen".

[dtmoss7]

Would "They are looking at the moon" be correct? Or is there a different way to say that in German?

[mizinamo]

That would be better as Sie sehen den Mond an., from ansehen (to look at) rather than sehen (to see).

[BlintPapp1]

I think you are correct. Sie sehen = they see

[ChrisHarpham]

"Seeing" and "looking" are different.

[ericpost4]

ich höre den hund :(

[lesly493054]

Why they are seeing the moon is incorrect?

[mizinamo]

Why they are seeing the moon is incorrect?

Because we don't usually use "see" in the -ing form in English when we are talking about using our eyes.

[RobShee35]

I put "mund" (mouth) instead of "mond" and it still marked me as correct. I didn't even say I had a typo. That should probably change.