Duolingo marked me wrong for saying "Vergiss es nicht, deinen Reisepass zu holen." Is this because the "es" is redundant because the Nebensatz acts as an object?
Asked
Active
Viewed 1,007 times
7
-
3As an aside: I suppose the "rice passport" is a "Reisepass. ;-) – bakunin Jan 16 '24 at 15:59
-
2Back-translating into English, you said "Don't forget it to bring your passport." – TonyK Jan 18 '24 at 00:20
2 Answers
7
Yes. You're right.
the "es" is redundant because the Nebensatz acts as an object
Olafant
- 8,651
- 1
- 14
- 33
6
You don't need the "es" (which can stand in when something is ommitted), because there is nothing ommitted:
deinen Reisepass zu holen
is already this object and you don't need to mark ommitting it because you didn't do so in first place.
Consider this alternative phrasing:
Du mußt deinen Reisepaß holen. Vergiß es nicht.
Here you have indeed the object left out of the sentence and you "set a marker" for it with the "es".
bakunin
- 8,260
- 4
- 32
-
6
-
@xehpuk Many large newspapers refused to adopt the new Rechtschreibung, including Frankfurter Allgemeine and Süddeutsche Zeitung. Many who learned German before the 1996 publication of Neue Rechtschreibung actually had time to reach schools continue to use the traditional grammar rules and spellings. True for me, and I got my bachelor's in German Language & Literature in 2006. Germans are stubborn, right? LOL – Tim Jan 17 '24 at 15:45
-
-
1@xehpuk: "wrong" says who? (And before you say "Deutscher Rechtschreiberat" or something similar: they can dictate how German is written in schools and government run offices. Stackexchange is neither.) As Tim said in his comment, nobody is bound by any of the nonsense these people decree. – bakunin Jan 17 '24 at 16:40
-
1@Sprudelwasser because "es" in the sentence does not mean the Reisepaß itself, but rather the act of getting the latter. – arne Jan 17 '24 at 16:44
-
2@bakunin I don't think I need to explain why having standards is a good thing. – xehpuk Jan 17 '24 at 20:14
-
@xehpuk; Of course you don't need to explain anything. On the other hand, I don't need to explain why I adhere to the standard of 1906 and why I think it was a good thing. This forum was built with the expressed purpose of not explaining anything. – bakunin Jan 18 '24 at 00:36
-
2Sorry for adding to this noise: First of all, I am old enough to having learnt the old German orthography at school and adopted the new one after school - so, it is not a matter of age. Also, the answer is inconsistent (Reisepaß and Reisepass is both used in the answer). Also, on SE, there are many people seeking help whose primary language is not German, and IMHO we should not help them by using an orthography which is obsolete for more than 20 years now. – rexkogitans Jan 18 '24 at 07:44
-
Has been discussed here: https://german.meta.stackexchange.com/q/11/. The top answers says to accept all spelling standards. – David Vogt Jan 18 '24 at 08:00
-
@rexkogitans: Sorry for being nitpicky, but the answer is NOT inconsistent: "Reisepass" was part of a direct quote from the question and I had no business altering it. – bakunin Jan 18 '24 at 08:58