"Ich esse Brot."

Translation: I eat bread.

[rshiva]

isst and esse are confusing :( can someone explain the difference..

[wstoutamire]

Ich esse vs. er/es/sie isst. I eat vs. he/she/it eats.

Edit: Thanks ahmed4sadawi for catching that! It must've been a late night when I posted that. Yikes! :)

[ahmed4sadawi]

It means "eat" not " drink" :D

[Purple293]

You use esse when you talk about yourself. For example: Ich esse means I eat. You use isst when you are talking about someone else

[AyushmanSi]

I used "eße" instead of "esse" and it marked me correct but mentioned that I have a typo in the sentence. Is there any rule for using "ß" in a sentence because as far as I know, "ß" = "ss".

[Nibiko]

See this for a full explanation: http://german.about.com/library/weekly/aa092898.htm

[lilacsunbird]

Why not Ich esse das Brot?

[EdizInaba]

Same reason you would say "I eat bread" instead of "I eat the bread" in english. Former is a general statement.

[Nibiko]

Is there anything special about the pronunciation of the "r"? Is it a trill?

[Arzt_Ratsel]

You roll the r. Not like a pirate, but enough to give it a good emphasis.

[JulioRober738722]

Thak you

[Wvarrda]

I think esse means am eating and isst means eats. I understand if you think it's confusing because it is

[Hohenems]

Ich esse = I eat and I am eating
du isst = you eat ("you" being informal singular) and you are eating
er/sie/es isst = he/she/it eats and he/she/it is eating

There is no continuous aspect in German so both "I am eating" and "I eat" are translated to "Ich esse".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_and_progressive_aspects#German

Verb "essen" conjugated:
http://canoo.net/inflection/essen:V:haben

[Dentist_Abdullah]

" Ich esse Brot" why they don't use an article before the word "Brot"?

[Nibiko]

When there is indefiniteness, then you don't need an article with plurals and mass nouns. "Brot" here is a mass noun. "some" can be used, but it isn't necessary.

This is called "zero article": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_article#Zero_article

[Jamer508]

Essen, esse. That is going to get irritating.

[williamseli1]

Essen is multiple people, including you, are eating. Esse belongs to just you

[danibishop]

Including you... or not. Essen is used for first and THIRD person of the plural.

we eat = wir essen (includes you)
they eat = sie essen (does not include you)

You must learn how to conjugate regular verbs and learn special verbs, like essen:

ich esse, du isst, er/sie/es isst, wir essen, ihr esst, sie/Sie essen

[PierrickRoger]

Just a random question: Can anyone explain to me the difference between Sie (with a capital letter) and sie (without a capital letter)

[zirrex]

Easy: Sie means You (polite to one or several persons), sie can mean she or they, you can guess which one by the verb conjugation - sg or pl.

[Motzerallagirl]

It is confusing, but after a while, it gets easy.

[baa44]

Two questions, one is more trivial than the other but...
1) Is "I am eating bread" = "I eat bread" ?
2) If I were to say "Du isst Brot" how would someone (apart from common sense) distinguish "You are eating bread" from "You is bread"? Can the length of the 'sss' sound really make that much difference?

[Nibiko]

1. Yes, they are the same. If you want to read more about the contiuous aspect in German see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_aspect#German
2. "You are bread" would be "Du bist Brot". About "isst" vs "ist" - they are pretty much pronounced like each other so context would do it (in the case of third person singular, which would be "Er ist Brot").

[Jynxette]

I have a question about the pronunciation of the "r" in "Brot". Is it more silent here?

[zirrex]

They have two main ways to prinounce it: one is similar to "Jewish" r, it is prevailing nowadays; the other is like Russian or Spanish "r", you can here it, e.g. in Rammstein's vocal. It is like that as far as I know, not a native German speaker.

[ablazquez01]

What is the difference between bist and isst?

[gatorsong]

Bist = You (familiar) conjugation of the verb "Sein" - Du bist = You are

Isst = You (familiar)/he/she/it conjugation of the verb "Essen" - Du/Ihr/Sie/Es isst = You/He/She/It eat(s)

[unculturedchild]

Why is the b in Brot capitalize? And it pronounced with a b p or d

[gatorsong]

Because it is a noun. In German all nouns are capitalized.

As far as the pronunciation, I'm pretty sure it's a [b] (voiced bilabial stop) rather than [p] (voiceless bilabial stop), although I suppose it is possible there could be regional differences.

[MiriYoon]

So, esse is only used for Ich,
Whereas isst is used for every subject except for ich. Correct?

[Abendbrot]

no. But "we", "they" and the other ones you will learn later. :)

• I: Ich esse,
• you (informal): du isst,
• he: er isst,
• she: sie isst
• it: es isst
• we: wir essen
• you (plural)/you all: ihr esst
• they: sie essen
• you (formal, singular): Sie essen
• you (formal, plural): Sie essen

Don't be shocked. You only have to learn the verb forms for: ich, du, er, wir, ihr. Because the form for she(sie) is equal to "er", it(es) is equal to "er", they(sie) is equal to "wir", you(formal singular and plural)(Sie) is equal to "wir".

[ChetanKuma16]

Oh man its ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ awesome.