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The conjugation of the verb "sein". Sie would require sind - as in Sie sind. She would require ist - sie ist (or in this case "SIE IST eine Frau"
Yes, and "Frau" is singular, otherwise it has to be "Frauen" (plural)!
"Sie sind Frauen."
You pronounce the "s" like the "z" in "zoo" and the "ie" like the "ea" in "speak", or you can think that you're saying the word "sea" but with a "z" instead of "s" ! ;)
They do sound the same. And we accept both when you're only given the audio because you can't tell the difference. To be clear though, we don't endorse cannibalism! ;D
In english, "She is a woman" might be said of a teenage girl to indicate maturity. Would "Sie ist enie Frau" ever be used in the same way in German?
I just contacted a native German (still living in Germany) to confirm that German women want to be called Frau after they've grown up. Doesn't matter if they are married or single, they prefer to called Frau.
when you begin a sentence with Sie,how do you differentiate between formal address and otherwise
Well, I'm still on level 3, but I'll try to answer. :D If it's in the beginning of a sentence, "Sie" could mean 3 words : she (sie), they (sie), and you (Sie; singular and formal). From the sentence above "Sie ist eine Frau", I can say the "Sie" means "she"; She is a woman. How do I know? Because it's followed by "ist" (the tobe for "he", "she", "it" in German). It's actually quite easy to remember since it's pronounced like the tobe "is" in English. While for "they" and the formal "you", the tobe is "sind".
To differentiate between the last two, you should look at the context. It's like how you distinguish between the single "you" and the plural "you" in English. For example : "Sie sind ein Mann". I can say the subject of this sentence is singular, because it means "a man". So "Sie" in there means "You" (formal form); You are a man. While in "Sie sind Männer", the subject is plural, because "Männer" is the plural form of Mann. So "Sie" in there means "they"; They are men. Hope it helps. Maybe the native speaker can add more detailed explanation to this? :)
*PS : When it comes to action verbs, I can't distinguish between the two. For example : "You drink water" and "They drink water" can have the same translation in German : Sie trinken Wasser.
Can't this also mean "You are a woman." ??? "Sie" when capitalized at the beginning of a sentence is vague -- can mean "You" or "She".
"Eine" means a/an, but it's only used for feminine words. So, you say "eine Frau" (a woman). While for masculine and neuter words, you use "ein". So, you say "ein Mann" (a man), and "ein Junge" (a boy). Note that the word "Mädchen" (girl) is a neuter word, not a feminine one. So, you say "ein Mädchen" (a girl). Hope it helps. *PS : Later on, you'll find the word "einen". :)
Well, Masculine words are the words that use "der", examples : der Mann (the man), der Apfel (the apple). So, a man = ein Mann ; an apple = ein Apfel.
Neuter words are the words that use "das", examples : das Mädchen (the girl), das Brot (the bread). So, a girl = ein Mädchen ; a bread = ein Brot.
Feminine words are the words that use "die", examples : die Frau (the woman), die Zeitung (the newspaper). So, a woman = eine Frau, a newspaper = eine Zeitung.
It's a bit confusing at the beginning, as there's no exact formula for that. :D The better way is to remember the gender as well everytime you learn a new word. So, instead of "Apfel", learn it as "der Apfel". :) For more details, you can check out this discussion "http://www.duolingo.com/comment/244220" or some other links "http://goo.gl/SXQxd" ; "http://goo.gl/5I5zFo".
can someone help me how to make the difference betwenn when the "Sie" is "they" or when it's "she"
Sie sind - you (formal singular and plural) are sie sind - they (informal plural) are sie ist - she (singular) is
German, like English, requires the first letter of the first word within a sentence to be capitalized. So the sentence "Sie sind eine Frau" is either "You are a woman" or "They are a woman". One would require context to determine if it is "You" or "They". Since we do not have any sort of context within the example, both would be considered correct. They only way this could be "She is a girl" is if the sentence was "Sie ist eine Frau" because of the verb "ist" requires the third-person singular "sie" (she in English).
