"Alles hat seinen Sinn."
Translation:Everything has a reason.
24 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
2725
"Everything" is hardly a "he", certainly not in English. But beyond that I am actually lost (see my question below).
2725
German speakers: could one of you please explain why "seinen" is used here. I would understand if the sentence were "Jeder hat seinen Sinn" since "jeder" is unquestionably masculine. However "alles" is "all/everything", so I would expect it to be either plural or neuter by default.
1933
It seems "alles" typically goes with "sein-" (its/one's), and "alle" often goes with "ihr-" (their) but seems OK with "sein-" as well. "sein-" can be neuter and does not have to be masculine. Disclaimer - I speak only Duo-Deutsch. XD
1221
Could one of the mods clear this one up please. There are at least 2 views i.e. that 'seinen' is masculine as it refers to 'der Sinn' or that seinen actually refers to alles (with no explanation of why it's masculine). I had the same question as the others but don't see any reliable/definitive answer as to why 'seinen' is used and whether it refers to 'alles' or 'der Sinn'
This is not the meaning of "Sinn" with which I am familiar: I remember a folksong from my youth in German class:
Du, du liegst mir im Herzen.
Du, du liegst mir im Sinn...,
the singer indicating that his (unappreciative) beloved is in his heart and mind.