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Sentence #3186806

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Comments

Pfirsichbaeumchen Pfirsichbaeumchen April 18, 2014 April 18, 2014 at 9:37:28 AM UTC link Permalink

Das Wort „biscuit“ ist Singular, aber damit sind Kekse im allgemeinen gemeint, oder? Tom stippt Kekse gern in Kaffee, bevor er sie ißt?

patgfisher patgfisher April 18, 2014, edited April 19, 2014 April 18, 2014 at 10:07:34 PM UTC, edited April 19, 2014 at 7:58:37 AM UTC link Permalink

Either "biscuit" or "biscuits" could be used in this sentence.

I think there is a slight difference in nuance using "biscuits" - it could mean that he is having more than one biscuit each time he has a coffee, or that he has one biscuit each time and likes to dunk each one of them every time.

It's a very fine point which I've thought over since your comment.

I have just put another sentence on - http://tatoeba.org/eng/sentences/show/3188512 - with a similar construction. It could mean that Tom has always owned more than one car and looks after them well, or that that he has always owned one car and has looked after each one of them well.

I hope this is of some help and thanks for getting me to exercise the grey matter.

Meantime, I think "biscuit" should remain - as in the German translation.

Pfirsichbaeumchen Pfirsichbaeumchen April 19, 2014 April 19, 2014 at 3:09:39 PM UTC link Permalink

Im Deutschen finde ich den Singular etwas merkwürdig. Deswegen wollte ich zur Sicherheit noch einmal nachfragen. Im Englischen kommt er mir nicht komisch vor.

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License: CC BY 2.0 FR

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This sentence is original and was not derived from translation.

Tom likes to dunk his biscuit in his coffee.

added by patgfisher, April 18, 2014

linked by deyta, September 11, 2016