Breakdown of Sie möchten die Wimpern verlängern und die Lippen vergrößern.
und
and
sie
they
möchten
would like
verlängern
to extend, to renew
die Lippe
the lip
vergrößern
to enlarge
die Wimper
the eyelash
Questions & Answers about Sie möchten die Wimpern verlängern und die Lippen vergrößern.
How are the verbs verlängern and vergrößern formed from adjectives?
They are built from the adjectives lang (long) and groß (big). To express causing something to become a certain way, German often takes the comparative form of the adjective (länger, größer) and adds the prefix ver- along with a verb ending. So, ver-länger-n literally means "to make longer" and ver-größer-n means "to make bigger".
The current lesson says the pattern is ver- + Adjective (+ umlaut) + -en. Why do these verbs end in -ern?
While many causative verbs use the base adjective (like kurz becoming verkürzen), adjectives that frequently express size or dimension often use their comparative stem (länger, größer). Because these comparative stems already end in -er, the verb ending simply becomes -n, giving us the -ern ending.
Why does the sentence use die Wimpern and die Lippen instead of ihre Wimpern and ihre Lippen?
In English, we almost always use possessives for body parts ("their eyelashes"). In German, if context makes it obvious whose body is involved, you usually drop the possessive and just use the definite article (die in this plural case).
Since Sie is at the beginning of the sentence, could it mean "You" (formal) instead of "They"?
Absolutely. Because the first word of a sentence is always capitalized, Sie möchten could also translate to the formal "You want to". You would need context from the surrounding conversation to know for sure if the speaker means "they" or "you".
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