English Translation
How much money do you have?
Why is it not “how much money do they have?”
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Because “Sie” is capitalized in this sentence, meaning that it’s the formal “you” here and not “they”.
When Sie shows up at the beginning of a sentence, however, it becomes ambiguous, because the verb conjugation is the same for 2nd person formal and 3rd person plural:
Sie haben viel Geld = could mean “You have a lot of money” or “they have a lot of money”.
In such cases, Germans sometimes will say “die” instead of “sie” if they mean to say “they”:
“Die haben viel Geld” = They (over there) have a lot of money.
I believe “Die” in that context is short for “diese da” (them there).
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English Translation
How much money do you have?
such useful info! thank you!
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It’s usually just an omitted word, when “die” (article, plural) is used.
- “Die (Nachbarn) haben viel Geld.”
- “The neighbors have a lot of money.”
In English, when it’s clear from the context about whom you’re talking (the neighbors, in this example), you can say “they” instead of explicitly referencing the neighbors. “They have a lot of money.” “Who?” “The neighbors, of course.” In German, similarly, you can leave the noun unspoken. “Die haben viel Geld.” “Wer?” “Die Nachbarn.”