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- Topic: German >
- "Sie trägt einen Rock."
66 Comments
502
Yes, from a Proto-Germanic 'hrukkaz' and variant 'rukkaz' without the h-. It seems the F came about from Frankish via Medieval Latin 'hrocus' > 'froc'.
I know you posted this 3 years ago, but you seem to be on here a lot based on your levels in multiple languages and I see you have a streak. Could you possibly explain to me when to use "Der", "Die", and "Das" if you could? I have trouble with some of these forms :/ I know Der is masculine, but I always get Die and Das confused.
Ugh, hit post by accident and can't edit. To finish, "die" is both feminine and plural (nominative and accusative cases). Just to be confusing, "der" is also feminine (dative and genetive cases) and plural (genitive case only). Wikimedia has a handy chart of all of the definite articles in German: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:German_definite_article_declension.png
Look them up on the internet. They're cases, and which case a word is in depends on it's function in the sentence. This chart tells you which article you should use: http://german.about.com/library/blcase_sum.htm
62
This is a scheme for the differences:
<pre> Man fem. Neutr. Plur.
</pre>
Nom. Der die das die Akk. Den die das die Dat. Dem der dem den
You use the nominative when the word is the subject: DIE Lampe hängt auf blahblah.
You use the accusative like in this sentence: Ich gebe DEN Vertrag an dir.
You use the dativ like with the words TO and FOR: ich gebe die Lampe an DEM Nachbar (neighbour)
132
LOL :)! Now I will also remember. In Afrikaans "Rok" is a dress and I keep translating Rock to dress
162
indefinite (a) vs. definite (the) - the reason high schools (used to) require foreign languages - it is where we learn our English grammar :-)
Because "tragen" (to carry) is a so-called strong, i.e. irregular verb in German.
Both in German and in English, there are irregular ("strong") verbs. They have a vowel change in the past tense and sometimes also in the past participle, i.e. the form of the verb used for the present perfect/past perfect. Ex. I sing a song - I sang a song (not: I singed a song) - I have/had sung a song (not: I have/had singed a song).
In German, some of these strong verbs additionally have a vowel change in the second ("du") and third ("er/sie/es") person singular in the present tense. That is also the case here, so it's:
tragen (to carry)
ich trage (I carry)
du trägst (you [familiar singular] carry)
er/sie/es trägt (he/she/it carries)
wir tragen (we carry)
ihr tragt (you [familiar plural] carry)
sie/Sie tragen (they/you [formal] carry).
It's the same with "sehen" (to see), for example: ich sehe, du siehst, er/sie/es sieht, wir sehen, ihr seht, sie/Sie sehen.
Unfortunately, you just have to memorise which verbs are irregular ("strong") and what kind of vowel changes they have. The same applies to people who learn English as a foreign language. A good dictionary will include some information about the vowel changes. The good news is that the number of strong verbs is limited. The bad news is that strong verbs are very old and therefore often refer to the most basic kinds of activities (eating, drinking, sleeping ...). For this reason, they are frequently used in everyday life.
What did the task look like? Were you given the words "Sie trägt einen __" and then had to fill in the gap with either "Rock" or "Kleid"?
In that case, only "Rock" works here because of the article "einen". "Rock" is masculine and "Kleid" is neuter, so it's:
Sie trägt einen Rock (masculine accusative).
Sie trägt ein Kleid (neuter accusative).
2038
That's true; German doesn't use an "-ing" form like English does. But that just means that "She wears" and "She is wearing" both translate the same ("Sie trägt").
German conjugates the verb based on the subject ("ich/du/wir/etc.")-- much like "I am / You are / etc." The conjugation scheme is as follows (I'm using "spielen" just because "tragen" has the irregular umlaut):
- Ich spiele (trage)
- Du spielst (trägst)
- Er/Sie/Es spielt (trägt)
- Wir spielen (tragen)
- Ihr spielt (tragt)
- Sie spielen (tragen) (They or You-formal)
So "Sie tragen" would be "They wear" or "You wear."
(Also, since "der Rock" is masculine, you should use "einen Rock.")
More info here
175
Masculine and Feminine as grammatical genders have little to do with things being "manly" or "womanly" or with human gender. Just think of masculine, feminine, and neuter as three different noun categories. Mann happens to take "der" as an article, so nouns taking "der" are now "masculine." Frau happens to take "die" as an article, so nouns taking "die" are feminine.
260
It asked to fill in the last word, and my options were 'Kleid' and 'Rock.' Did I miss a context clue as to why Kleid is wrong?
2038
Those mean the same thing and they're both correct. (See the top of this page-- "wearing" is actually the default answer.)
2038
"Einen" is a masculine form, so it has to have a masculine noun after it. "(Der) Rock" is masculine, and "(das) Kleid" is neuter, so it has to be "Rock."
132
Yes, rather confusing also to me but as far as I know it is "einen Rock" and "ein Kleid". I find it difficult to remember which is the masculine form though :(
2038
No, "Sie" meaning the formal "you" would use a different verb conjugation: "Sie tragen einen Rock." Since the conjugation is "trägt," we know that "sie" must mean "she" here.