Work out who is doing and who is done to

German has three words for “the” and marks the thing being done to by changing one of them: der becomes den. Once that little word carries the job, the rest of the sentence can move around.

≈ 3 min of reading · Practise at your own pace

What’s in this chapter

Three words for “the”, and every naming word owns one for life.
“A” is einine, or eineINE-uh in front of a diedee-word.
On the receiving end, exactly one changes: derdair → dendayn.
Because the done-to word is marked, German can move words around and stay clear.

English has one word for “the”. German has three, and there is no rule worth learning about which noun takes which: store the little word glued to the big one, as if der Hunddair hoont were a single word. That is what German children do.

The three words for “the”, and the two for “a”

Read the two columns across. Only the little word in front changes; the naming word after it stays as it is.

“The”	“A”
der Hunddair hoont“the dog”	ein Hundine hoont“a dog”
die Katzedee KAT-suh“the cat”	eine KatzeINE-uh KAT-suh“a cat”
das Hausdass howss“the house”	ein Hausine howss“a house”

All three mean exactly “the”; only the middle row takes the extra -e on “a”.

One little word changes when a thing is done to

When something receives the action, German marks it. Compare the left side with the right and find the piece that changed.

der Hunddair hoont“the dog” — doing

den Hunddayn hoont“the dog” — being done to

English shows the jobs by word order. German changes one little word instead.

ein Hundine hoont“a dog” — doing

einen HundINE-en hoont“a dog” — being done to

“A” grows an -en. diedee and dasdass do not change at all.

Who is doing, and who is being done to?

Jetzt sieht der Fuchs den Vogel.
One little word changed shape — that one is receiving.
Show answer +Hide answer −
Jetzt sieht der Fuchs den Vogel.yetst zeet dair fooks dayn FOH-gul“Now the fox sees the bird.”
Which two little words stay the same on the receiving end?
Show answer +Hide answer −
diedee and dasdass.

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