I’m studying German using the book Berliner Platz and I read in it someone saying:
Ich trinke Kaffee schwarz.
Shouldn’t schwarz (adjective) go before the noun Kaffee as in
Ich trinke schwarzen Kaffee.
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Apparantly it’s written down, so it’s clear. Had it been spoken, it could also have been ‘Ich trinke Kaffee. Schwarz’, i.e. two full stops. It would be distinguishable by intonation.– JanJan 20, 2016 at 10:01
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1 Answer
"Schwarz" serves as an adverb here. "Den Kaffee schwarz trinken" has a special meaning of drinking coffee without milk.
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That's what I thought but when I searched for "schwarz" in the dictionary I didn't found anything about it being an adverb. Nevertheless, Duden has the same example, so I just have to accept it.– dsalfranJan 19, 2016 at 23:53
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The first sentence also strongly indicates a habit, so in would translate to English I'm used to drink coffee without milk. In the second sentence this could be just a coincidence and would more relate to a specific sort of coffee (which is a bit strange, since I know of no other colors)– guidot ♦Jan 20, 2016 at 13:50