Answers
Apr 30, 2012 - 12:36 PM
Dear Joe, I consulted our German language expert and she told me that there might be a confusion because of the expression "Es gibt". Since "Es gibt" translates as "There is" in English, it might seem that there isn't a direct object implied (after To be/Sein, there is no direct object), but since in German in this expression the verb is not "to be", but "to give", "Es gibt" DOES imply a direct object, so if it's followed by a masculine it has to take the EN ending.
E.g. Dieser Zug ist klein / This train is small ("Zug"=Subject so no EN ending: dieser)
Es gibt diesen Zug / There is this train ("Zug"=Direct Object so we have an EN ending: diesen)
It is explained on session 9, and we repeat a lot throughout the levels that after "es gibt" there's always the accusative case (direct object case). I know it might be difficult to get at the beginning, but if you keep practicing, it will seep in and you´ll surely get it after a short while. Hope this helps!
E.g. Dieser Zug ist klein / This train is small ("Zug"=Subject so no EN ending: dieser)
Es gibt diesen Zug / There is this train ("Zug"=Direct Object so we have an EN ending: diesen)
It is explained on session 9, and we repeat a lot throughout the levels that after "es gibt" there's always the accusative case (direct object case). I know it might be difficult to get at the beginning, but if you keep practicing, it will seep in and you´ll surely get it after a short while. Hope this helps!
Apr 30, 2012 - 12:42 PM
Cool, thanks for the help! The explanation definately cleared it up quite a bit.
May 10, 2012 - 12:10 PM
It helped me too, Leo. Thanks!
May 10, 2012 - 01:38 PM
Great! All the credits should go to our German language expert, Emilie : ) she gave me all the explanations. Cheers!
May 11, 2012 - 02:09 PM
Also, danke schön Emilie!