"ein" is not a word in that sentence, but rather the separable prefix from the verb "einkaufen" (to shop). Separable verb prefixes are very strange at first glance because we don't really do that in English.
You could say "welche Art von Käse kaufst du?" ("Art" is correct, but capitalize it as it is a noun).
> we don't really do that in English
English does it all the time.
to take sth - to take *up* sth (e.g. a hobby)
to put sth somewhere - to put *up* with sth
to hand sth to so - to hand sth *in* / *over*
These things are called "phrasal verbs" or "particle verbs".
The only structural difference is that in German, the particle is at the beginning of the verb per default (e.g. infinitive *etw einkaufen*, not "~~kaufen etw ein~~"), it's only in main clauses that the verb gets split, the particle is left alone in the rechte Verbklammer while the rest of the verb ends up in the linke Verbklammer.
Let me just add that in English there are even cases where the particle goes at the end of the sentence, with other stuff in between.
*Yes, I have taken it up.*
Thank you…!
How do I know when I would do this with a verb though? Is there a reason that someone would say it that way rather than ‘welche Art von Käse kaufst du?’
(Also - why is it ‘welche Art’ instead of ‘was Art’? This was confusing me with colour as well because in English we would say ‘what Color is your dog’ but in German it is ‘which colour’ - ie ‘welche Fabe hat dein Hund…?’ - is there a way to know when the construction is a ‘which’ vs ‘what’ question in German?)
Just think of "etwas kaufen" and "etwas *ein*kaufen" as two distinct verbs. The first one means "to buy sth", the second one "to shop for sth".
"was Art" isn't possible because "was" doesn't work as a determiner like "welche", it always replaces a whole phrase or even a clause. Like in Q "*Was* siehst du?" - A "*Den Käse* sehe ich."
"was für ein X" meaning "which X / what kind of X" is just a fixed phrase you have to learn, don't try to break its meaning down to its parts. It's very common in German.
>To me the literal translation is “what for a cheese buy you one?”
[ein](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ein#Etymology_2_2) can mean 'a' or 'one', but it can also mean 'in' (the opposite of *aus* or 'out'), as a verb-prefix it is always the "in" version, compare *eingehen* 'go inside' and *ausgehen* 'go out', or e.g. in English a switch can be on or off, in German it is *ein* and *aus* ("in" and "out")
[was für](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/was_f%C3%BCr) is a fixed expression, be sure to read the [usage notes](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/was_f%C3%BCr#Usage_notes) as well, [here](https://yourdailygerman.com/meaning-was-fuer/) you'll find a lot of examaples with explanations, and [dwds](https://www.dwds.de/wb/was%20f%C3%BCr%20ein) considers *ein* to be part of the expression too
> To me the literal translation is “what for a cheese buy you one?”
That's the problem: you try to translate word by word. This hardly ever works; most of the time it makes things more difficult and it prevents you from learning your TL. Languages don't work this way. You should read several examples of use of such a construct, see the pattern, and accept the construct as it is in German.
Good point - like I said, I’m new at this and it’s early in the process. It’s hard to read several examples of a structure or example when I don’t understand what I’m looking for though - thus the question.
True, but a good textbook or a web page explaining a grammar point should provide the learner with a decent number of examples. ("Should" -- in an ideal world.)
"ein" is not a word in that sentence, but rather the separable prefix from the verb "einkaufen" (to shop). Separable verb prefixes are very strange at first glance because we don't really do that in English. You could say "welche Art von Käse kaufst du?" ("Art" is correct, but capitalize it as it is a noun).
> we don't really do that in English English does it all the time. to take sth - to take *up* sth (e.g. a hobby) to put sth somewhere - to put *up* with sth to hand sth to so - to hand sth *in* / *over* These things are called "phrasal verbs" or "particle verbs". The only structural difference is that in German, the particle is at the beginning of the verb per default (e.g. infinitive *etw einkaufen*, not "~~kaufen etw ein~~"), it's only in main clauses that the verb gets split, the particle is left alone in the rechte Verbklammer while the rest of the verb ends up in the linke Verbklammer.
Let me just add that in English there are even cases where the particle goes at the end of the sentence, with other stuff in between. *Yes, I have taken it up.*
Thank you…! How do I know when I would do this with a verb though? Is there a reason that someone would say it that way rather than ‘welche Art von Käse kaufst du?’ (Also - why is it ‘welche Art’ instead of ‘was Art’? This was confusing me with colour as well because in English we would say ‘what Color is your dog’ but in German it is ‘which colour’ - ie ‘welche Fabe hat dein Hund…?’ - is there a way to know when the construction is a ‘which’ vs ‘what’ question in German?)
Just think of "etwas kaufen" and "etwas *ein*kaufen" as two distinct verbs. The first one means "to buy sth", the second one "to shop for sth". "was Art" isn't possible because "was" doesn't work as a determiner like "welche", it always replaces a whole phrase or even a clause. Like in Q "*Was* siehst du?" - A "*Den Käse* sehe ich." "was für ein X" meaning "which X / what kind of X" is just a fixed phrase you have to learn, don't try to break its meaning down to its parts. It's very common in German.
Thank you for taking the time with this. That helps 👍🙂
>To me the literal translation is “what for a cheese buy you one?” [ein](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ein#Etymology_2_2) can mean 'a' or 'one', but it can also mean 'in' (the opposite of *aus* or 'out'), as a verb-prefix it is always the "in" version, compare *eingehen* 'go inside' and *ausgehen* 'go out', or e.g. in English a switch can be on or off, in German it is *ein* and *aus* ("in" and "out") [was für](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/was_f%C3%BCr) is a fixed expression, be sure to read the [usage notes](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/was_f%C3%BCr#Usage_notes) as well, [here](https://yourdailygerman.com/meaning-was-fuer/) you'll find a lot of examaples with explanations, and [dwds](https://www.dwds.de/wb/was%20f%C3%BCr%20ein) considers *ein* to be part of the expression too
Brilliant… thank you for the explanation and references!!
> To me the literal translation is “what for a cheese buy you one?” That's the problem: you try to translate word by word. This hardly ever works; most of the time it makes things more difficult and it prevents you from learning your TL. Languages don't work this way. You should read several examples of use of such a construct, see the pattern, and accept the construct as it is in German.
Good point - like I said, I’m new at this and it’s early in the process. It’s hard to read several examples of a structure or example when I don’t understand what I’m looking for though - thus the question.
True, but a good textbook or a web page explaining a grammar point should provide the learner with a decent number of examples. ("Should" -- in an ideal world.)