"Die Gemeinde hat einen Architekten."

Translation: The community has an architect.

[tzglaeser]

Shouldn't this be "has architects"? Since /Architekten/ is the plural form?

[nathanjohnson83]

this is a rare case of end declination. Basically the end of the noun changes. Similar to der Elefant (accusative einen Elefanten)

[duoderSie]

It's called "-en" declination (at least that's the german grammar name), and it's not rare, it's quite common eg Mensch, Student, ...

[nathanjohnson83]

compared to Polish or Greek, where every word is declined, I would consider this at least "seldomly used."

[OmerSch]

I know it's from 2 years ago, but maybe someone else can answer:
So saying "The community has architects" will be just dropping the "einen" -> "Die Gemeinde hat Architekten"?

[epingchris]

I think so, yes, since in all cases except nominative the singular and the plural forms for "Architekt" are identical.

[NicolasMiari]

To add to the confusion, Wiktionary lacks the customary "declension" table for the entry "Architekt".

[GeorgeBeton]

some masculine nouns are weak and therefore have an -en in the dative, accusative, and genitive case .
It's a shame that Duolingo doesn't explain, but here's a handy website: http://germanforenglishspeakers.com/nouns/weak-nouns-the-n-declension/

[NewPathOldClouds]

That's a very useful website. I will bookmark it.

[sandeepa2]

Danke !

[Zernyu]

Found this: http://marathonsprachen.com/german-nouns-with-n-declination-nomen-der-n-dekination/

[J324]

Could "The church has an architect" be acceptable here? I just talked to two different German speakers yesterday and both of them preferred the use of the word die Gemeinde for church instead of die Kirche.
Oh, and I reported it.

[nathanjohnson83]

Yes it should be accepted. It depends on what portion of the christian church you are apart of, but yes this is very common.

[talkshower]

Shouldn't it be Architektin?

[Menschenkind]

No. 'Architektin' is a female architect. Also, in this case, Architektin would need 'eine'.

[Omnislash1979]

Or Einer?

[deactivated user]

just eine, akkusativ

[Lynilyn]

Thanks everyone! I think Duolingo should explain that weak nouns decline.

[onuraytan]

Why don't we say "Ich habe einen Hunden", but "Ich habe einen Hund" as well? When do we change nouns and adjectives? I really don't know when to use these declensions and which one to use. Everybody posts some information about them but only grammatical suffixes of them giving some tables, and what I need is some explanations for their usage. Please help me D:

[az_p]

The short version is just "some do, some don't, and you have to memorise it". The links posted already in this thread are as good as any explanation about that.

[mikali157]

Can someone explain why communities in Germany have their own architect?