"I am the adult."
Translation:Ich bin der Erwachsene.
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Just for clarification, you could say this as "Ich bin die Erwachsene" to mean the same, but if you mean a female?
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Linking verbs (http://donnayoung.org/english/grammar/linking-verbs.htm) use nominative for both subject and predicate/object. Sein is a common German linking verb. Also werden, heißen, and scheinen.
Does Erwachsene break down into smaller words? I'm having trouble remembering this word and maybe if I can remember individual components it will help.
It's derived from the verb "erwachsen," which in turn is the prefix "er-" on the verb "wachsen" ("to grow"). So "Erwachsene" simply literally means "grown-up [person]," much like the word "grown-up" in English for an adult. The "-e" at the end is an adjective ending, since "Erwachsene" is derived from an adjective (see below if interested).
That's probably about all you need to know, but if you want to get more detailed, the noun comes from the past participle of "erwachsen," which is still just "erwachsen." The noun is just that participle/adjective used as a noun, similar to how we might say things like "The land of the free and the home of the brave" in English ("free" and "brave" are adjectives but used as nouns here).
So since "Erwachsene" is derived from an adjective, it takes adjective endings. There's an "-e" ending for this sentence because we're using "der" (nominative case); just as you would use "-e" with "der" for a phrase like "der große Mann," you use the same ending as if we had "der erwachsene Mann" and thus "der Erwachsene." If the sentence were "Ich sehe den Erwachsenen," we would need the "-en" ending to go with the accusative "den" as if we were saying "den erwachsenen Mann"; similarly "Ich bin ein Erwachsener" for "ein" in the nominative. We would similarly use feminine endings/articles if the adult in question were known to be a woman.
This was probably quite a bit more information than you were wanting, but I hope it was helpful or interesting to you.
no wonder I hadn't a clue what's going on - this language does my head in - I passed B1 and have never ever come across all this before. I sometimes despair if I will ever understand German logic!!!! As to the linking verbs - never come across those either - a decade of VHS and private lessons and never been told these pearls of wisdom......
Just read what the American humorist Mark Twain had to say! He spent years learning German.
No, it isn't. It would be 'ein Erwachsener', however. Nominalized adjectives -although being nouns- are declined like attributive adjectives. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_declension#Attributive_adjectives You're looking for 'mixed inflection'. You may want to bookmark the page. It may come in handy quite often.
Why is it not "Ich bin den Erwachsene"? does Sein not make things accusative?
"Reif" is "ripe" in English, so it is an adjective not a noun, and also not a word you would normally use to describe a person.
I learnt Erwachsene from Haribo sweets, genuinely the only reason I know the word!
It's nominative. "Sein" is a copulative/linking verb and so its object goes in the nominative.