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I want to say:

Yes, get water please

in German, but I think my attempt is wrong. I'm speaking to one other person informally:

Ja, bitte Wasser kriegt.

Is this right? Do I conjugate like this or use "kriegen"?

Is this the right verb? And what is the proper second person imperative form?

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  • get reflects the meaning of to bring in this context, so you could try translating to bring which will lead you to an obvious and valid outcome: Ja, bring mir ein Wasser bitte.
    – Em1
    Commented Apr 11, 2014 at 11:22

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No, unfortunately your translation is not correct: "Ja, bitte Wasser kriegt" is a strange phrase which could be back-translated to "Yes, please water receives".

A possible translation of "yes, get water please" could be "ja, hole bitte Wasser", but it is difficult to be sure since you provide no context.

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I don’t see a verb in a question, but it’s like this:

Person A: Möchtest du (ein Glas) Wasser trinken?
Person B: Ja, könntest du mir welches bringen/geben? or: Ja, bringst du es mir?

If A and B call each other “Sie”, it’s:

Person A: Möchten Sie (ein Glas) Wasser trinken?
Person B: Ja, könnten Sie mir welches bringen/geben?

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The sentence

Yes, get water please.

is not a question but a command (imperative). In the German imperative, as in the English one, the verb comes first. It is conjugated in either singular or plural and either familiar or formal tone.

Correct translations would be therefore:

  • "Ja, hole bitte Wasser." (singular familiar)
  • "Ja, holt bitte Wasser." (plural familiar)
  • "Ja, holen Sie bitte Wasser." (singular or plural formal)

Of course, the command could be rephrased as a question, to make it more polite. See the answer by AlexE.

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  • As Georges Elencwajg pointed out, in this context "holen" (to fetch) is a correct translation for "to get". ("To get" is such a multi-purpose word that in other contexts, "kriegen" (to obtain) is a correct translation, but here it isn't.)
    – Georg
    Commented Apr 11, 2014 at 10:03

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