German pop quiz
Jul. 1st, 2015 07:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysobelOh, duolingo.
(For the non German speakers, the highlighted answer -- which was "correct" -- translates most commonly as "gave", as in the past tense of to give. Now there is a semi-idiomatic way in which the verb geben translates to the verb to-be in a specific context: es gibt (whatever), there is (whatever), and presumably therefore es gab (whatever), there was (whatever). But with es gibt, it is not a literal translation -- es does not mean there, gibt does not mean is. It's a phrasal translation.)
(For the non German speakers, the highlighted answer -- which was "correct" -- translates most commonly as "gave", as in the past tense of to give. Now there is a semi-idiomatic way in which the verb geben translates to the verb to-be in a specific context: es gibt (whatever), there is (whatever), and presumably therefore es gab (whatever), there was (whatever). But with es gibt, it is not a literal translation -- es does not mean there, gibt does not mean is. It's a phrasal translation.)
no subject
Date: 2015-07-02 06:46 am (UTC)