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- "The apple juice"
"The apple juice"
Translation:Der Apfelsaft
24 Comments
grammatical properties of compound words are defined by its rightmost part/morpheme
https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/3686/articles-for-compound-words
415
There is no particular reason for it, I suppose. You may have to learn if the singular or plural is used for every kind of juice. Traube-n-saft - Traube = grape, Trauben = grapes, Mangosaft, Birne-n-saft - Birne = pear, Birnen = pears. Germans have similar confusions with different acids. Butyric acid = Buttersäure (Butter = butter, Säure = acid), malic acid = Äpfelsäure (Apfel = apple - Äpfel = apples(!)), formic acid = Ameisensäure (Ameise = ant - Ameisen = ants(!); or jams: Erdbeermarmelade (Erdbeer(e) = Strawberry, Marmelade = jam), Feigenmarmelade (Feigen = figs(!))
well, it is confusing sometimes and you have to learn by heart a lot but eventually you will get a feeling for it (and just stay wondering about Äpfelsäure like every german in every german chemistry course..)
171
Perhaps because malic acid is found naturally in apples, and contributes to the sour taste of the more sour apples?
667
Is there any rule about which words can or can't be made into compound words? Are there rules to follow when forming compound words? Or is it 'just learn the words as you go,' like with genders?
"Saft" is a masculine word, so it takes the masculine articles. (Ein/Der, Den/Einen). Das is for neuter words. You may want to read Tips and Notes- "The"
In this case, "Apfel" happens to be masculine as well, but the gender of a compound is determined by the second half.