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Learn Hardcore German: Wir haben das gleiche Ziel. - We have the same goal.

Hardcore German
/Lesson 89
/Wir haben das gleiche Ziel.

Wir haben das gleiche Ziel.

Word

Wir haben das gleiche Ziel.

Meaning

We have the same goal.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore German

Lesson

Breakdown of Wir haben das gleiche Ziel.

Questions & Answers about Wir haben das gleiche Ziel.

Why is it gleiche and not just gleich in das gleiche Ziel?

In German, when an adjective stands directly in front of a noun, it normally needs an ending.

After a definite article like das, the adjective takes the weak ending -e in the neuter singular:
- das gleiche Ziel – the same goal
- das neue Auto – the new car

If the adjective comes after the noun, it usually has no ending:

Das Ziel ist gleich. – The goal is the same.

So:

das gleiche Ziel ✅ (correct before the noun)
das Ziel ist gleich ✅ (correct after the verb)
das gleich Ziel ❌ (wrong; missing the adjective ending)

Why isn’t it das gleiches Ziel?

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Because the article determines the adjective ending. With das (definite article, neuter, singular, nominative or accusative), the adjective takes -e, not -es.

Compare:

With definite article:
- das gleiche Ziel (not gleiches)
- das alte Haus
With indefinite article:
- ein gleiches Ziel
- ein altes Haus

So gleiches would be correct with ein, but with das, you need gleiche.

How do I know that das gleiche Ziel is in the accusative case here?

Look at the verb and the roles in the sentence:

Wir – subject (the ones doing the action)
haben – verb that takes a direct object
das gleiche Ziel – direct object (the thing we “have”)

In German, the direct object is usually in the accusative. So das gleiche Ziel is accusative.

You can test this by replacing das gleiche Ziel with a pronoun:

Wir haben es. – We have it.

Es is the accusative neuter pronoun, confirming that the noun phrase is in the accusative.

Note: for neuter nouns like Ziel, nominative and accusative both use das, so the form looks the same, but the function in the sentence tells you it’s accusative.

Why is it das and not den in this sentence?

Because Ziel is a neuter noun in German: das Ziel.

Masculine: der/den (e.g. der Hund, den Hund)
Feminine: die/die (e.g. die Katze, die Katze)
Neuter: das/das (e.g. das Ziel, das Ziel)

In the accusative singular, only masculine nouns change their article (der → den). Neuter stays das:

Masculine: Wir sehen den Hund.
Neuter: Wir haben das Ziel.

So den gleichen Ziel would be wrong twice: wrong article for Ziel (should be das), and wrong ending (gleichen) for neuter with das.

What’s the difference between das gleiche Ziel and dasselbe Ziel?

There are two ideas here:

das gleiche Ziel
- Literally: the same kind of goal / an equal goal
- Focus: the type or content of the goal is the same.
- Example:
  - You want to pass the exam, and I want to pass the exam. Our goals are the same in content:
    - Wir haben das gleiche Ziel.
dasselbe Ziel
- Literally: the very same, one and the same goal
- Focus: identity – it’s one single goal we both share or refer to, not just two equal ones.
- Example:
  - We are both aiming at exactly the same physical target:
    - Wir haben dasselbe Ziel.

In everyday modern German, many speakers don’t strictly keep this contrast and use both almost interchangeably, especially for abstract things like goals, opinions, etc. But the traditional distinction is as above.

Can I also say Wir haben dasselbe Ziel here?

Yes, Wir haben dasselbe Ziel is grammatically correct and very natural.

It sounds slightly more like “we share one and the same goal”.
Wir haben das gleiche Ziel sounds a little more like “our goals are the same in content”.

In normal conversation, both are often understood as meaning essentially the same thing in this context.

Be careful with spelling:

dasselbe is written as one word, not das selbe.

Could I rephrase this as Unser Ziel ist das gleiche? Does it mean the same?

Yes, that’s a correct and common rephrasing:

Wir haben das gleiche Ziel.
Unser Ziel ist das gleiche.

Both express that “our goal and their goal are the same”. The difference is syntactic:

In Wir haben das gleiche Ziel, wir is the subject, das gleiche Ziel is the object.
In Unser Ziel ist das gleiche, unser Ziel is the subject, and das gleiche works like a predicative adjective phrase (similar to English “is the same”).

Meaning-wise, in most contexts they’re equivalent.

Is the word order fixed, or can I say Das gleiche Ziel haben wir?

You can say both:

Wir haben das gleiche Ziel. – neutral emphasis
Das gleiche Ziel haben wir. – emphasis on das gleiche Ziel

German word order rule: the conjugated verb (haben) must be in second position, but you can move another element to the front for emphasis.

So these are all possible and correct:

Wir haben das gleiche Ziel.
Das gleiche Ziel haben wir.
Auch wir haben das gleiche Ziel.

The meaning stays the same; only the focus changes slightly.

Why do we use haben and not sein in this sentence?

Because the structure is about possession / having something, even if it’s an abstract thing like a goal.

Wir haben das gleiche Ziel. – We have the same goal.

Using sein would change the meaning and be ungrammatical in this form:

❌ Wir sind das gleiche Ziel. – We are the same goal. (nonsense)

If you want to use sein, you must change the sentence structure:

Unser Ziel ist das gleiche. – Our goal is the same.

So:

haben → someone has something
sein → something is something

Does gleich always mean “same”?

No. gleich is quite flexible in German and has several common uses:

same / identical / equal (adjective or adverb of comparison):
- das gleiche Ziel – the same goal
- gleich groß – equally big / the same size
soon / in a moment / right away (adverb of time):
- Ich komme gleich. – I’ll come in a moment / right away.
immediately / straight away in some phrases:
- Mach das gleich! – Do that immediately!

Context tells you which meaning is intended. In das gleiche Ziel, it clearly means “the same”.

How do you pronounce Ziel and gleiche?

Approximate pronunciations:

Ziel:
- The initial Z is pronounced like ts.
- ie is like a long English “ee”.
- Roughly: “tseel” (IPA: /tsiːl/).
gleich(e):
- gl like in “glad”.
- ei sounds like the English “eye”.
- ch here is the soft German ch (like blowing air while the tongue is close to the palate), not like English “k”.
- Roughly: “gly-kh” (IPA: /ɡlaɪçə/ for gleiche).

So the whole sentence sounds roughly like:

Wir haben das gleiche Ziel. → veer HAH-ben das GLY-khe TSEEL

Can I also say Wir haben die gleichen Ziele? What’s the difference?

Yes, that’s also correct, but the meaning changes slightly:

Wir haben das gleiche Ziel.
- Singular Ziel – “We have the same goal.”
- Focus on one specific goal.
Wir haben die gleichen Ziele.
- Plural Ziele – “We have the same goals.”
- Suggests a list or set of goals, and both groups share that whole set.

Grammar difference:

das gleiche Ziel – neuter, singular, accusative
die gleichen Ziele – plural, accusative; adjective takes -en after plural die

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