40
votes
How to say "I can read that book in one day" (stressing one)
To stress one day you can say
Ich kann das Buch an einem einzigen Tag lesen.
- 8,512
31
votes
Why is the sentence "Das ist eine Nase" correct?
In German language, the word "das" is not only an article. It has a second meaning:
It can also have the meanings of the English words "this" or "that".
If the word "das" means "this", there are no ...
- 6,108
27
votes
Accepted
Is the word "Unterlagen" masculine or feminine?
The das in the first example is not an article since an article would have to come just before a noun. It's a demonstrative pronoun roughly translatable as "that", although "this/these&...
- 10.7k
26
votes
Accepted
Ist es unhöflich, Vornamen mit Artikel zu erwähnen?
Since the link was broken, the new link to the results of the Atlas zur Deutschen Alltäglichen Sprache, respective 9th round is:
- 30.5k
26
votes
Accepted
Why are there two articles in front of a noun?
The referent of the masculine dative relative pronoun dem is Erwerb and der is a feminine genitive article for Erstsprache.
… dass der Erwerb der Zweitsprache im Prinzip dem [Erwerb] der ...
- 952
26
votes
Accepted
Use of das vs die in a sentence
Das may look like an article meaning the in this context - But it isn't.
Der, die, das can actually cover three functions:
Article - That is what you seem to be concentrating on
Relative Pronoun - ...
- 62.5k
21
votes
Accepted
Two real articles before a noun – why?
Einen in the example sentence is not an article, it is part of an idiomatic expression.
The respective part of the sentence can be translated to:
that they placed at that specific gable
In ...
- 9,438
19
votes
Accepted
SPD-Slogan „Das WIR entscheidet“
Du bist (vermutlich) über einen Rechtschreibfehler gestolpert (gemäß § 57 (3) der Rechtschreibregeln). Eigentlich müsste da stehen:
ein Land, in dem das Wir entscheidet
Wir ist hier ein ...
- 21.7k
18
votes
How to say "I can read that book in one day" (stressing one)
With
Ich kann das Buch an einem Tag lesen.
you already express that you can read the whole book within one day. Depending on the context there might be rare cases where you want to eliminate any ...
- 1,347
18
votes
Accepted
How to say "I can read that book in one day" (stressing one)
in
The shortest variant would be using the temporal preposition in instead of an, as you already found out. In this usage in already implies that something happens within the time span further ...
- 70.2k
18
votes
Accepted
In the sentence "Ich begegnete einem alten Freund in Berlin", why the dative einem instead of the accusative einen?
There is a broad rule of thumb to translate English direct objects to German Akkusativ objects and English indirect objects to German Dativ objects, but it's no more than that, a rule of thumb. There ...
- 25.4k
17
votes
What definite/indefinite article do Germans use when they don't know/forget the noun they're talking about?
Very often you have a vague idea of what you want to say, and with this idea often comes some words that have similar meanings, but still are not exactly what you want to say. So you often use their ...
- 121k
16
votes
»The Hague« in English = »Den Haag« in German. Why not »Der Haag« or »Das Haag«?
We simply use the Dutch name of that city and don't translate it into German - And that happens to be Den Haag.
The fact that this looks like "den", the accusative of "der" is pure coincidence (or ...
- 62.5k
16
votes
Would combining all German articles to just one article have a real negative effect on the language?
In cases where the article is nominative and just there to define the gender of the noun: Yes, there would be very small effects to the language.
But as stated in the comments: Some times the article ...
- 9,438
16
votes
Accepted
Hat die Verwendung des bestimmten Artikels in "die Ukraine" eine politische Konnotation?
Länderbezeichnungen sind uneinheitlich. In den meisten Fällen wird kein Artikel vorangestellt, aber es gibt
die Ukraine
die Schweiz
die Slowakei
die Türkei
die Mongolei
der Iran
der Irak
Eine ...
- 10.4k
15
votes
Sign of the Cross – case of “Im Namen”
The preposition in in German always governs two cases, meaning it can take both the accusative and the dative cases, but not all at once, of course.
As a general rule, in + accusative is used when ...
- 1,128
15
votes
Accepted
die einen (at the beginning of a sentence)
In spoken language it is sometimes hard to hear the clear borders of sentences. And spoken / colloquial language does not always follow grammatical rules.
You heard the part with "die einen...&...
- 9,438
13
votes
Accepted
Why is there no article in "Auf grüner Linde"?
One of the most obvious reasons (to me) why Heine left out the article there is verse meter. The poem follows a 4-3-4-3 pattern of emphasised syllables per line. Thus, auf grüner Linde sitzt und singt ...
- 38.5k
13
votes
Accepted
Can the noun »Süße« be neuter?
Because here, das Süße, is a nominalization ("Substantivierung") of the adjective süß, which in principle can have any article.
There can be two reasons (thanks to @KilianFoth for pointing out one ...
- 3,178
13
votes
Warum kann man sagen: "Ist Abtreibung Mord?"?
Nein, damit sind keine abzählbaren Begriffe gemeint. Abzählen könnte man die Morde, die z.B. Jack Unterweger begangen hat, oder die Morde, die in einem gewissen Zeitraum in einer bestimmten Region ...
- 121k
13
votes
Accepted
"An" oder "an dem" bzw. Artikel weglassen
In diesem Fall kann man den Artikel verwenden oder ihn weglassen. Das hängt davon ab, wie man "Arbeitspaket 1" grammatikalisch versteht.
Wenn man "Arbeitspaket 1" als Substantiv ...
- 18.2k
12
votes
Accepted
Kann man den Artikel in „zum“ in diesem Satz weglassen?
Die Bedeutung ändert sich nicht, der Satz wird nur grammatikalisch falsch.
- 20.4k
12
votes
Accepted
»The Hague« in English = »Den Haag« in German. Why not »Der Haag« or »Das Haag«?
Den Haag is the Dutch name of the city. The den in there is not considered a German accusative masculine definite article (or a German plural dative definite article) but an integral part of the city’...
- 38.5k
12
votes
Accepted
Warum sagt man "Wir haben einen Platten" obwohl Platte weiblich oder sächlich ist?
These are two different things.
Wir haben eine Platte.
We have a plate/disc/record.
Die Platte is a shortening from die Langspielplatte, a 33rpm long play record, as opposed to the older 78rpm ...
- 57.2k
12
votes
What's the purpose of “die” in this sentence?
In this instance, die is a relative pronoun ('that'/'which' in English), not an article -- and so is the die before deshalb later in the sentence. The two clauses 'die nur über einen Privatweg zu ...
- 525
12
votes
How do I say “that” with a noun that isn’t neuter?
The problem you might have is that das is both an article (translating to the) and a pronoun (this).
So
Ist das das Geschenk für mich?
(stylistically not exactly elegant) translates to
Is this the ...
- 62.5k
12
votes
Accepted
Why "Mit Karte" has no article?
Note, that German knows the so-called Nullartikel to be applicable:
Das Nomen erhält keinen Artikel vor Abstrakta, die allgemeine Eigenschaften und Gefühle ohne nähere Bestimmung bezeichnen. Die ...
- 27.8k
12
votes
Accepted
Why no article before "Verbindungen" in this sentence?
Because ordinarily you would expect an indefinite article, but since the indefinite article in German has no plural form, it is simply omitted in plural constructions. (This is a general rule.)
Ich ...
- 7,698
12
votes
How to say "I can read that book in one day" (stressing one)
If your translation doesn't have to be close to the original, I would say something like:
Das Buch schaffe ich an einem Tag.
Or:
Für das Buch brauche ich keinen Tag.
- 3,882
12
votes
Why is the sentence "Das ist eine Nase" correct?
Quite as in English:
That's a house. That's a beer. That's a girl. That's a boy. That's a nose. That's a leg. That's a liver. That's a stallion. That's a mare. That's a flower. That's a ship.
...
- 31.1k
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