einen versus ein

HANX – German Novice – Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:28:53 +0000

In lesson 1.2 when asking for a coffee, einen Kaffee is used. Why is einen used and not ein?

Nathalie – German Novice – Wed, 25 Mar 2009 03:04:01 +0000

Hi there,
the reason "einen" is used is because it is the Accusative case which turns "ein" into "einen".
Have a look at Grammar lesson 6.2 to find out more about the Accusative.
The interesting thing is that in spoken German you will often hear "ein Kaffee" just because it is very common to swallow endings, but "einen Kaffee" is definitely correct in this case.
I hope that helps. Let me know if you have further questions.

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einen versus ein

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einen versus ein

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