Answers
Apr 17, 2015 - 04:40 PM
I agree with you, DoubleT: it should be "Die Frau mit der tenure Tasche."
Apr 19, 2015 - 04:00 PM
The Fluenz Program is correct. It should read "Die Frau mit der teuren Tasche." If you include the lesson that you are one, it would be easier to explain why this is the case using the programs examples. But I will try to explain anyways.
You are correct. Mit uses the dative case. It seems as though you know that the dative case turns "Die" (feminine the) into "Der" and "Der/Das" (masculine/Neuter) into "Dem".
It seems as though the confusion is with the adjective. The adjective would end in "en" no matter what gender the noun is.
EinER teurEN Tasche - Tasche is feminine
EinEM nettEN Mann -Mann is masculine
EinEM schoenEN Spiel -Spiel is neuter
I don't know where that lesson is to refer you to it but hopefully this helps clarify your problem.
You are correct. Mit uses the dative case. It seems as though you know that the dative case turns "Die" (feminine the) into "Der" and "Der/Das" (masculine/Neuter) into "Dem".
It seems as though the confusion is with the adjective. The adjective would end in "en" no matter what gender the noun is.
EinER teurEN Tasche - Tasche is feminine
EinEM nettEN Mann -Mann is masculine
EinEM schoenEN Spiel -Spiel is neuter
I don't know where that lesson is to refer you to it but hopefully this helps clarify your problem.
Apr 20, 2015 - 02:55 PM
Yes, that is correct. Part of the problem is that Fluenz introduces case endings piecemeal. Rather than learn all the case endings for adjectives at once (indeed, we have yet to encounter the genitive!) they introduce them as needed, although they sometimes use endings and structures not yet introduced. To this point, the only adjective ending they have introduced besides -e, -er, and -es is -en in the masculine accusative singular and the dative plural (not yet the other oblique cases). Nevertheless, I appreciate Fluenz's inclination not to overload us.
Apr 21, 2015 - 04:54 AM
this will come in a later lesson. Don't lose faith. I think the case rules are introduced slowly because learning them all at once might be a little overwhelming.
Apr 22, 2015 - 07:54 PM
Thanks for all the replies, everyone. I still find it confusing, but I certainly haven't given up! Hopefully this stuff will become a little more natural over time (and repetition).
Jan 29, 2017 - 05:14 PM
I had the same question as Double T. I recall when learning Spanish through Fluenz this sort of thing happened a few times, where something showed up in a sentence that hadn't been taught yet.
Feb 26, 2017 - 10:17 PM
It's been 10 months since the OP first asked this question, so you probably resolved the problem by now. Nevertheless . . . this rule is addressed in Level 3, Lesson 12. In the tutorial, about 8 minutes in, Nora tells us, "We know adjectives end in -EN after masc. accusative nouns. Well, the same thing also happens in two other cases. First, adjectives end in -EN in a dative case, so adjectives always end in -EN after any article in the dative case." Secondly, she adds after about a minute or so: "And adjectives also end in -EN when they come after plural articles . . .this is true for all three cases." (Of those we've learned so far, that is)