- Forum >
- Topic: German >
- "Sie liest eine Zeitung."
234 Comments
You must remember that the word "Sie" means they and she. To know WHICH one is being used, you must now read the next part. It is liest which is the fem form of read. If it was they, it would have been lesen.
Thanks for the explanation. There is no way to know that at this point in the lesson as they don't mention it yet. And to the other dude, it's not "common sense" if you don't speak the language... which is sort of why we're all here.
Your reply didn't answer their question. They asked why is "you are reading a newspaper" not correct and you just explained that Sie could mean she and they and how to differentiate between them. You haven't mentioned Sie could mean you (but always capitalised).
When using Sie to mean "you (formal)" it conjugates the verb the same way as for sie ("they"). So it would have to be Sie lesen eine Zeitung to mean "You are reading a newspaper". If it's sie liest it can only mean "she reads/is reading".
Anyway, this was answered in the other comments already ;)
sie. Its capitalized in this question because it is at the start of the sentence
When would you use Sie to mean you? How can i tell the difference between Sie, Du and Ihr?
There are three forms of "you" in German. You use a different form depending on whether you are talking to just one person, to multiple people (kind of like "you guys" or "you all"), or whether you're being formal (like with your boss or people you don't know personally).
du - one person, informal
ihr - multiple people, informal
Sie - any number of people, formal
@Effortless— liest isn’t feminine (verbs can’t be). I think you meant ‘singular ‘.
what if i cannot read the next part?
fill in the blank
Sie _ eine zeitung
how would i know which conjugation to use?
Liest is not the feminine form of lesen - verbs don't decline by gender, their pronouns do. Liest is simply the 3rd person singular declension allowing you to match it with the 3rd pronoun singular Sie. Ihr is 2nd person plural pronoun requiring the 2nd person plural declension lesen
An easy way to remember if its 'she' or 'they'. Just look at the word that follows the word 'sie' and use the rhyme if theres 't' then its 'she'
'You' as in the formal 'you'? That would be 'Sie lesen eine Zeitung.' The formal 'you' (Sie) is grammatically equivalent to third person plural (sie=they).
After I put "they" I peeked at the "Sie" word & it told me that it meant 'they, you & she' so I picked one "they" :p
If you use "they", the verb form that follow should be "lesen", not "liest".
So, "They read a newspaper" = Sie lesen eine Zeitung.
Note that "You (formal) read a newspaper" = Sie lesen eine Zeitung.
While "She reads a newspaper" = Sie liest eine Zeitung.
Two possiblities:
- Context,
- Capitalization: the formal address "Sie" is always capitalized. So, this won't work if "Sie" is at the beginning of a sentence, because all words at the beginning of a sentence are capitalized.
Because "eine" is used. "You are reading A newspaper". Your answer would be in response to "Du leist die Zeitung"
I'm not saying that you are doing it this way, but just wanted to make clear:
Don't think them as different types of "the". You need to hardwire your brain to think them as parts that belong to the words following it. It indicates the gender of the word. That is a crucial part of the language. If you ask yourself "which form of "the" does this sentence need?" you are thinking it the wrong way. The questions should be "what is the gender of the following word?" then "what is the case I need?"
When you answer both of these questions you end up with the correct article.
When learning vocabulary always learn the gender too. Not just "Tisch" or "Toilettenbürstenbenutzungsanweisung" but "der Tisch" and "die Toilettenbürstenbenutzungsanweisung" ;)
One thing I wish duolingo would do is emphasize the gender of nouns more, especially on the mobile app.
I copy the nouns onto paper. Masculine is blue, and down the left side of the page. Neuter is black, down the middle. Feminine is red, down the right. That way, if I need to remember a noun's article, I can either recall colour OR position on the page.
See my post Der, die, das and die [blue, red green and purple]. Also Das [black] = That or this I appreciate you would have to make changes but it does cover singular, plural and other possibilities Gilly
I agree. In vocabulary lists it would be helpful if Duolingo were to precede nouns with der, die or das — according to their gender.
I suggest you to try Memrise application. Check this site out: www.memrise.com . I guess you'll find it useful.
See Schorschi's comments on this page.
In short, they mean the same thing but ein is used for masculine and neuter nouns and eine for feminine and plural nouns.
All nouns in German have a 'grammatical gender': masculine, feminine or neuter. The gender of a noun affects many of the little words that are also in the sentence - they change in one way for masculine nouns, and another way for feminine nouns, etc. There are a lot of rules, but also some patterns to them.
Keep learning, practicing, reading and asking questions, and eventually your brain will make sense of it. Good luck!
You can not use eine before a plural noun. Eine means "a" or "one". it simply doesn't work with plurals. If it were "meine" or "keine", then it would work.
Well, yes. I meant the declension pattern - but could have made it clearer. Thanks!
should't it be "sie liest EINEN Zeitung" just like "ich habe EINEN Apfel"? ok, i discovered: apfel is masculine, zeitung is feminine...
With my above table of declensions, you should have been able to answer the question yourself.
You correctly identified the gender of "Apfel" (m) and "Zeitung" (f). Next you have to figure out what declension to apply to each noun in the sentences.
In "ich habe x" or "ich lese x", "x" is always in accusative. So, looking above in my table, the declensions of the indefinite article for a masculine and feminine singular noun in accusative are "einen" and "eine", respectively. So, the sentences must read:
Ich habe einen Apfel.
Sie liest eine Zeitung.
i edited the post, i found the answer later! german is dificult, i think that more than portuguese, my mother language.
What is the difference between "Sie liest eine Zeitung" and "Sie liest die zeitung" meaning wise?
1128
Aha, so it's not just me. I think maybe they put a lesson that should be accusative or dative into the genitive lesson. I reported it (just on one sentence, because I'm not going to report every single one.)
Apparently it's a bug, as discussed in the general forums. Still weird that they don't/can't do anything about it, even put up a notice about it!
It is accusative, but einen only appears with a masculine noun, e.g. Sie liest einen Roman (Roman=novel). Zeitung, however, is feminine: die Zeitung.
I'm really confused: I put in "She's reading a newspaper" and it corrested me to "She's reading one newspaper". And then when i look here it says that the definition of "Sie liest eine Zeitung" is "she reads a newspaper". So which one is correct??? And what's the difference between "one" and "a" in "eine"???
That's just Duolingo being confusing. Either is fine.
In English if we wanted to count things we would say: "One newspaper, two newspapers, three newspaper...". But we could also say "That is a newspaper". Different words for "one" and "a".
German does not have this. It uses the indefinite article (ein/eine/etc.) in both situations: Eine Zeitung, zwei Zeitungen, drei Zeitungen. Or just Das ist eine Zeitung.
German does have a number "one" (eins), but it is only used for numbers not quantities (i.e. in reading out a phone number, house number, doing mathematics, etc.).
Depending on context, it may be more natural to translate eine as "a/an" or "one". I would say that this sentence is more natural as "a", but "one" is also correct. In English though, this would be giving some emphasis: "She is reading one newspaper, not two!". You could express this same emphasis in German with emphasis on eine when speaking too.
Ok hold on. I'm reading the comments because I got the wrong answer submitting "she is reading a newspaper" and the app said nope, I used the wrong word and told me it should have been "She is reading a gazette" like what the heck. Zeitung so far has been newspaper and newpaper only? Why gazette all of a sudden?
because sie isnt they in this context. because the verb read has a st on the end of the word
While Sie can mean "they" it can also mean "she". To understand which sie this is, you need to understand when to use what word for "reading". In this case, it is she because "liest" is the fem form of reading. If it was lesen, it would be they.
"Du liest eine Zeitung." or using the formal address: "Sie lesen eine Zeitung." which is grammatically equivalent to (and hence indistinguishable by itself from) saying "They read a newspaper."
That depends on a number of factors. First off, in the sample sentence "Sie liest eine Zeitung", "eine Zeitung" appears in accusative case and "Zeitung" is feminine. If you were to use the same sentence structure with the word "book", which is neuter in German, the sentence would read "Sie liest ein Buch." If, however, a masculine noun was used, for instance, "the report", it would read as follows: "Sie liest einen Bericht."
Up to here, all nouns in all (three) genders appear in accusative.
Simply changing the case used already changes the declensions of the nouns and articles used.
Let's say, the sentence "a newspaper is white" was used. Here, "newspaper" appears in nominative case.
So the translations for all three genders would be:
Eine Zeitung ist weiß.
Ein Buch ist weiß.
Ein Bericht ist weiß.
Note the different endings of "ein" - being different from "eine", "ein" and "einen" in accusative.
It gets more varied with genitive and dative cases, that I am omitting for brevity.
Holly, that's a lot of rules! Do you know if Duolingo gets more specific on the later lessons or it will aways be the same learning method?
ein is the masculine or netuer nominative case, while einen is the masculine accusative case.
The formal you (Sie) is grammatically equivalent to third person plural (they). So, if you know your conjugations you can easily tell by whether it's third person singular (sie=she) or third person plural (Sie=they or (formal) you). Another hint is that the formal you (Sie) is always capitalized, unlike "she" (sie). However, this will only help you if "sie" appears in the middle of a sentence and not at the beginning.
I entered "she reads a newspaper," and it said I was wrong. Not sure why my entry is different than "she reads one newspaper" = the given correction?!?
Sie is REALLY annoying me, I was led to believe that if it was a capital S it was 'you are', don't think I'm ever going to get that right! :(
Well, when the word is in the beginning of the sentence, it is also capitalized.
The most important thing however is always the verb. When you can conjugate your verbs, you won't have any problems with that.
Thanks for the reply, I just need to find out how I "conjugate" my verbs (which hopefully should be easy enough)
I just found a great EASY tool for conjugating verbs, I'll use it a lot I'm sure :) http://german.about.com/library/verbs/blverb_Conjug1.htm
I quote from a grammar book: "There are two forms for "you" in German 'du' and Sie. du [singular] and ihr [plural] are used for close friends, family and children. Sie [singular] and Sie [plural] are used for politeness and with people you do not know. Sie is written with a capital S and the verb used with Sie has the same form as that of the 3rd person Plural. sie can be "she" or "they" depending on the verb ending. for example "sie ist" = she is sie sind = they are if 'sie' is NOT the FIRST word in the sentence then "Sie sind = You are" which could be singular "you" or plural "you". The problem arises when "sie" is the first word in the sentence and has to have a capital letter for S in which case it can mean sie = she, sie = they or Sie = you. The clue to whether Sie at the start of the sentence is she, they or you depends on the 'person' of the verb that follows "Sie". In the case of "Sie liest eine Zeitung" The Sie is really sie = she because liest is the 3rd person SINGULAR of lesen. "Sie lesen could mean "they are reading" if Sie is really "sie" with a capital S for the beginning of the sentence. OR Sie lesen could mean "You are reading" if the 'sie' is really Sie with the capital S and the 3rd person PLURAL of the verb. In short "liest" tells you that Sie is really "sie = she" Heute sie liest = Today she is reading Heute sie lessen = Today they are reading Heute Sie lessen = Today you are reading Complicated but I hope this helps Gilly
If you are talking about the formal you (Sie), i.e. why does the sentence not mean "you are reading a newspaper," it's because that would be "Sie lesen eine Zeitung." The formal you (Sie) is grammatically equivalent to third person plural. So the latter sentence could also mean "they are reading a newspaper."
The conjugations of "lesen" in present tense are:
Ich lese.
Du liest.
Er/Sie/Es liest.
Wir lesen.
Ihr lest.
Sie lesen.
So, you can see why the sentence can only mean "she is reading a newspaper."
Why is it "Sie liest eine zitung" instead of "Sie liest ein Zeitung? when do i have to use either eine or ein? I don't get it. thanks for answering.
It's because of the case and the gender of the noun "eine" is linked to. Here it is "Zeitung," which is feminine - die Zeitung. "Zeitung" appears as the accusative object in this sentence, and the ending for "ein" with a feminine noun in accusative is "eine."
If instead the object was "Buch" (book), which is neuter (das Buch), the sentence would read "Sie liest ein Buch."
If the object was "Roman" (novel), which is masculine (der Roman), the sentence would read "Sie liest einen Roman."
So the word endings of "ein" in accusative (singular) in the three genders are "einen" (masc.), "eine" (fem.) and "ein" (neut.).
You may also want to read my comment on a related topic at https://www.duolingo.com/comment/526169, in which I am explaining word endings for possessive pronouns. The principle is the same. I am also mentioning the nominative case there.
- 233
What would you are reading the newspaper be in German.. Sie is confusing. You, she , they. Good grief!
In German there are two versions of saying "you": "Sie" (formal) and "du" (informal). "Du", of course, is second person singular. "Sie", however, is equivalent to third person plural. So, the two possible translations of "You are reading the newspaper" are:
"Sie lesen die Zeitung." and
"Du liest die Zeitung."
The first sentence, however, if you don't have any context, can also translate back to English as
"They are reading the newspaper." (3rd person singular).
All conjugations of "lesen" in present tense are:
Ich lese die Zeitung.
Du liest die Zeitung.
Er/Sie/Es liest die Zeitung.
Wir lesen die Zeitung.
Ihr lest die Zeitung.
Sie lesen die Zeitung.
masculine = male, feminine = female, neuter = neither masculine, nor feminine.
No. "Ein"/"eine" can both be translated to "one" or "a."
The different word endings of "ein" depend on gender and declension.
For instance, the feminine word "Frau" is prepended by "eine": eine Frau.
"Mann," however, being masculine, is prepended bei "ein": ein Mann.
A neuter noun, "Schwein," is prepended bei "ein," as well: ein Schwein.
The above are all in nominative case.
When you get into other declensions there are, for feminine nouns:
-
Eine Frau - nominative.
-
Einer Frau - genitive.
-
Einer Frau - dative.
-
Eine Frau - accusative.
With "Mann" (masculine) it's as follows:
-
Ein Mann - nominative.
-
Eines Mannes - genitive.
-
Einem Mann - dative.
-
Einen Mann - accusative.
And "Schwein" (neuter):
-
Ein Schwein - nominative.
-
Eines Schweines - genitive.
-
Einem Schwein - dative.
-
Ein Schwein - accusative.
German does not differentiate. Read the lesson tips from the first lesson, which explain this at the bottom of the page.
Sie in German pronunciation sounds like "zee" in English pronunciation, yes.
Generally, though, it's tricky to describe pronunciation with text, as everyone has a different accent. Bookmark the website Forvo, where you can listen to recordings from native-speakers.
Because Zeitung is a feminine noun (i.e. die Zeitung. You just have to memorise this when you learn the word for the first time).
When you would otherwise use die for a feminine noun, you need to use eine. The other comments have good explanations, so have a read of them too. There's also Duolingo's own tips page for this lesson (scroll down). Good luck!
- 167
English distinguishes between a ongoing, continuous action and a habitual action. "I am reading" means NOW. "I am (in the process of, currently engaged in, at present involved in) reading a newspaper". "I read" means I read habitually, I read on specific occasions, or I read specific papers. "I read newspapers" means that I am in the habit of reading newspapers on a regular basis. "I read newspapers every week". Habit. "I read a paper on Thursdays". Habit. "I read expensive newspapers" Specific, habitual. But "I am reading an expensive newspaper today". Non-specific, continuous action. German does not make this distinction, and nor does French, for example. But English does, and so do other languages - Irish, for example, but with slightly different application. I read = Léim. I am reading = Táim ag léamh. Táim = I am (now). Bím = I am (habitually, regularly). Táim fuar inniu = I am cold today. Bím fuar i gcónaí = I am always cold.
please clarify me why the answer "reads" rather than read eg: du liest einene zeitung-you read a newspaper sie liest eine zeitung- she read a newspaper (why not!)
Most, if not all regular verbs in third person singular end in “s“.
I read
You read
He/she/it reads
We read
You read
They read
Here's “to have“:
I have
You have
He/she/it has
We have
You have
They have
Why here is "eine Zeitung" but in another sentence was "einen Apfel" ????
Hello guys Sie means you in a formal way. and "sie" means she. In the sentense Sie liest eine Zeitung, I translated "Sie" as You forma, however, the computer answer considered "Sie" as She.
It can't be “Sie“ (formal address), because then the sentence would read “Sie lesen eine Zeitung.“
Grammatically, “Sie“ (formal address) is identical to third person plural (“sie“).
So, “Sie lesen“, could be “You are reading“ (formal address) or “they are reading“.
And so “sie liest“ (third person singular) has to be “she is reading“.
Ok, since this is talking about accusative, why is it not She liest EINEN Zeitung? The "reading" action is happening to the newspaper no?
Because einen is the accusative form for a masculine noun. Zeitung, however, is feminine.
So, the following would be correct:
Sie liest einen Roman. (= novel)
Der Roman. (masculine)
Die Zeitung. (feminine)
And for completeness' sake, for a neuter noun it's ein.
Sie liest ein Magazin.
Das Magazin. (neuter)
What the ❤❤❤❤,Duolingo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????????!??????????????!?????????????????!?!!!!!!!
In previous module, translation of Sie isst --> She eats was wrong, while here Sie liest --> she reads is correct. Can someone please explain this to me?
There are multiple ways to tell.
Conjugation
You should never mix up "she" with "they" and "you", as the verb is conjugated differently.
Examples:
- sie liest = she reads / she is reading
- sie lesen = they read / they are reading
- Sie lesen = you read / you are reading
Capitalization
When "Sie" means "you", the letter "S" will always be capitalized, no matter where it is in the sentence. However, at the begging of a sentence, "Sie" will always be capitalized no matter what is meant.
Examples:
- Ich weiß, dass sie liest = I know that she reads
- Ich weiß, dass sie lesen = I know that they read
- Ich weiß, dass Sie lesen = I know that you read
Context
In most situations, there will be context, you'll know what (or whom) the other person is talking about. On duolingo, we do not have the required context, so we need to look at the conjugation and capitalization. If you see a sentence such as
- "Sie lesen ein Buch"
Duolingo will accept both:
- You read a book / You are reading a book
- They read a book / They are reading a book
It will not accept:
- She reads a book / She is reading a book
because the conjugation is not correct for the "she-form" of "sie".
So the newspaper is actually in accusative case here, but we don't see it now because its article is "die" am I right? For example; If It would be a novel, then we should say; "Sie liest einen Roman" right? please tell me I'm right ^^
Correct. Likewise, with neuter nouns, for instance, das Magazin.
Sie liest ein Magazin. (Akkusativ).
Ein Magazin. (Nominativ).
This is not mine but I remember someone commenting this. If the verb ends in 't' it's a she. That's how I remember it...
i answered- she 'read' a newspaper and it corrected me to reads. how will it be different?
What you have written is past tense. 'she 'read' a newspaper' is actually grammatically incorrect. :)
Sie is the same as they or she so why is the feminine part not there to help
This is not mine but I remember someone commenting this. If the verb ends in 't' it's a she. That's how I remember it...
The conjugation of the predicate gives it away.
liest is third person singular.
lesen is third person plural.
The word "newspaper" is uncountable, isn't it? Then, why does the answer sentence have "a"?
Newspapers can be countable or uncountable depending on the context.
In the context of reading, it is countable: "I am reading a newspaper" or "I subscribe to three newspapers", because you are generally referring to specific editions/publications.
In the context of using old newspapers for some other purpose, such as a packing or cleaning material, you can use it as an uncountable/bulk noun: "I wrapped the plates in newspaper before packing them into the box" or "Using scrunched-up newspaper is a common way of cleaning windows without leaving streaks".
"a" and "one," same thing. I am a fluent speaker in German and no one would actually mean to say I am reading one newspaper.
I wrote She is reading a newspapers, but they didn't açcept because it GAZETE or smth. Wtf??
Why didn't we say "sie liest einen zeitung" since the newspaper is the direct object like when we say "er isst einen apfel"?
Because Zeitung is feminine and Apfel is masculine and the declensions in accusative singular of their indefinite articles are eine and einen, respectively.
Ich sehe eine Zeitung.
Ich sehe einen Apfel.
Is there any spcific rule concerning "Ihr"? I'm always confused with its conjugation. Please help. Danke.
I don't understand your question. Please be more specific.
Conjugations are applied to verbs. "Ihr" is a personal pronoun.
Yes, you can. College tuition is free, no matter whether you're a citizen or not. You may have to learn German though.
Yes. There has to be an article (a, an, the) or a determiner (this, that, my, his, another...) before a singular noun in English. Singular nouns can’t be used alone.
Why cant be "she IS READING a newspaper"??? They havent consider this answer!
hello I am confused about using 'ein' and 'eine'. Would you please clarify me??
Check the link bellow and good luck https://www.duolingo.com/skill/de/Accusative-Case/tips-and-notes
When an apple is the object it becomes "Einen Apfel" but a newspapper remains "Eine". Pls explain
Because the masculine articles ein/der change to einen/den in the accusative. Neuter and feminine articles don’t change.
The difference is in the nouns’ gender, whether masculine, feminine, or neuter. https://www.duolingo.com/skill/de/Accusative-Case/tips-and-notes
i always forget to read the article... i see eine but i skim over it and say 'the newspaper' lol... but at least im grasping German to where i can just skim.and understand
You have to consider the context. Is the action going on right now, in the moment? (She is reading the newspaper now). Or is it something that happens regularly, habitually, or always? (She reads the newspaper every morning).
If you have no context, as in this sentence, then either translation is possible.
The article einen is used for masculine nouns in the accusative case. Zeitung is a feminine noun, so it keeps the article eine, like in the nominative case.
For most nouns, you can’t. You just have to memorize the definite article—and thus, the noun’s gender—along with the meaning. Der Tisch (the table, masc.); das Zimmer (the room, neut.); die Wand (the wall, fem.).
Some noun endings are always feminine, or always neuter, but generally you can’t tell by looking.
"She reads" & "She is reading" both mean present tense and I've answered lots of questions like this either way. Both have been correct accordiing to the lesson.
Yes, but, isn't there a way to differentiate between them? Or that will be covered in future lessons?
They both mean the same thing. If Duo doesn't accept that, it's a flaw in the program but it's never rejected either answer for me. Just report it and give it what it wants. But there's no reason to differentiate since they mean the same thing. I hope that helps.
They don't mean the same thing in English. (Present Simple) is different than (Present Continuous). Present Continuous usually describes an event that is happening right now. While Present Simple usually describes a habit, fact, etc.
So, there is noway in Germany to differentiate between them?
No, there isn’t. German, unlike English, has no present continuous. The context determines the meaning, whether one is talking about a habitual action or an ongoing present action.
You must be an English teacher like me— no one else knows what Present Continuous is! :-).
How does one know whether "Sie lesen eine Zeitung" means "They read the newspaper" or "You (formal) read the newspaper"? Is there no way other than to analyze from the context?
That's right. Only context can tell.
Also, you can't use the fact that the formal address (Sie) is always capitalized to your advantage, because the pronoun appears at the beginning of the sentence at which words are always capitalized anyway.
If, however, you were looking at the sentence/question in its two possible variants, as follows:
Lesen Sie eine Zeitung?
Lesen sie eine Zeitung?
you would be able to tell the difference.
The former asking do you read a newspaper? and the latter do they read a newspaper?.
I need to know when it means; "I read and I am reading". Is really confusing. I know that in german there is no progressive but is there anyway to Id which is the correct one? Thanks in advance
Repeat posting from above: No, there isn’t. German has no present continuous/ present progressive. The context determines the meaning, whether one is talking about a habitual action or an ongoing present action.
Can someone please explain in simple words when and why for example "ein" is changing to "eine,einen,einem"?
Any tip for the change of ein to eine,einen,einem ,when and why this happens?
Well, words that end in -ung are feminine, and words ending in -heit, -keit, -lein, -chen are neuter. Otherwise, you can’t. Essentially you have to memorize the noun’s gender along with its meaning—for the most part, you can’t tell by looking.
How can you tell if it's she or they if you're a beginner and consequently not familiar with conjugations?
You have to become familiar with conjugations. The verb form, the conjugation, is the only way; you can’t tell just by looking at the pronoun. Sie liest is singular; Sie lesen is plural.
That’s why learning the conjugations is essential. I strongly recommend a book called 501 German Verbs.
First, read this: https://www.duolingo.com/skill/de/Accusative-Case/tips.
Second, read the comments thread here on this forum. It’s been discussed very thoroughly several times. You should be able to find what you need here. The moderators are great.
Why is 'she read a newspaper' not correct?? Why is it she reads a newspaper?
Zietung is Feminine and that's why it remained 'eine' and not 'einen' (accusative case).
To make things easier: ich lese (I read) du liest (you 'singular' read) er/sie/es/man liest (he/she/it/one reads) wir lesen (we read) ihr lest (you 'plural' read) sie lesen (they read)
Something is dysfunctional, I can't even read the statement before it says it is incorrect??? Anyone else having this problem?
