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Expressing Quantities by Edward Swick

Have you noticed that in German the word “of” doesn't occur in certain expressions that require it in English? Where we say “a cup of coffee,” German does without the preposition of: eine Tasse Kaffee. There are many examples of this kind of expression. Listen to your CD for the German pronunciation.

ein Glas Bier a glass of beer zwei Glas Bier two glasses of beer ein Liter Milch a liter of milk drei Liter Milch three liters of milk ein Meter Wolle one meter of wool vier Meter Seide four meters of silk eine Tasse Tee a cup of tea acht Tassen Tee eight cups of tea eine Kanne Wasser a pitcher of water zwei Kannen Wasser two pitchers of water eine Flasche Wein a bottle of wine sechs Flaschen Wein six bottles of wine

Did you notice that the feminine nouns above changed to the plural with the numbers acht and zwei? You say eine Tasse Kaffee and eine Kanne Wasser, but with numbers larger than one, you use the plural: acht Tassen Kaffee and zwei Kannen Wasser. Masculine and neuter nouns do not change to the plural in this instance: ein Glas Bier, zwei Glas Bier.

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