Word
Sie wollen heiraten.
Meaning
They want to marry.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
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Questions & Answers about Sie wollen heiraten.
What does Sie mean here?
Sie can mean either:
- you in the formal singular sense
- you in the formal plural sense
- they
Because Sie is capitalized here, it means the formal you, not they.
So Sie wollen heiraten. can mean:
- You want to get married. said politely to one person
- You want to get married. said politely to more than one person
German uses capitalization to help distinguish Sie = formal you from sie = she or they.
Why is Sie capitalized?
In German, the formal you is always written as Sie with a capital S.
Compare:
- sie = she
- sie = they
- Sie = you (formal)
So capitalization is very important here. Without it, the sentence could mean something completely different.
Why is the verb wollen and not will?