Doubt about spielt/spielen

Question

What is the difference between:

Nina spielt gerne Fußball
Nina und Amy spielen gerne Fußball.

According to spielen, second person conjunction of spielen is spielt. So why are we conjugating it two different ways?

Is there a rule about plurals I am missing?

It’s third person plural. Did you really intend to write second person? — Carsten S, May 15 '22 at 14:50
I consider this as a duplicate of this question. Any contrary opinions? — guidot, May 15 '22 at 21:39

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 16 '22 at 02:04

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Yes, there is a difference between 3rd person singular and 3rd person plural in German:

Er/sie/es spielt vs. sie (Plural) spielen.

edited May 16 '22 at 02:04

user unknown

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answered May 15 '22 at 14:54

DeniseR

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In case it's not clear, when you combine two nouns with und, the result is plural. The same holds in English, "Nina likes to play football/soccer" vs. "Nina and Amy like to play football/soccer." – RDBury May 15 '22 at 15:48

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered May 15 '22 at 18:50

The difference is in the numerus. For simplicity, I will drop in the example sentences the adverb gerne, as then we are dealing with the same verbs in German (spielen) and English (to play).

Singular

Nina spielt Fußball.
→ Nina plays football.

Here, Nina is one person. Therefore, the third-person (not second-person, as you wrote) singular forms must be used (spielt = plays).

Plural

Nina und Amy spielen Fußball.
→ Nina and Amy play football.

Here, Nina and Amy are more than one person. Therefore, the third-person plural forms must be used (spielen = like).

Doubt about spielt/spielen

2 Answers2