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- "Dein Mann isst das Brot."
"Dein Mann isst das Brot."
Translation:Your husband eats the bread.
17 Comments
Do you mean the possessive pronoun? It goes to the gender of the noun it refers to , not necessarily the person. Usually, the person and gender of the noun match, as in the case of Dein Mann. But not always -- for instance "my girl" -- since Madchen is neuter, it would be "mein Mädchen", not "meine Mädchen".
No sir you cannot use 'den' instead of 'das'
Each noun has a gender: Masculine, Neuter and Feminine. Bread is neuter, Das Brot.
However that is not why we don't use 'den' First let's ask what is the difference between 'der' and 'den', because they both mean 'the' and both are used on masculine nouns.
The difference is that 'der' is used on Subject nouns, and 'den' is used on Accusative nouns. Subjects are performing the verb, Accusatives are receiving the action of the verb.
"The man wears the button" - The man is doing the wearing, so he is the subject. The button is being worn, so it is in the Accusative case.
Here's the example with the two nouns in German: Der Mann, und Der Knopf (button)
In german - "Der Mann tragt den Knopf" Notice how Der Knopf changed to Den Knopf. This is because Knopf is being worn, and thus is accusative.
SO!
Why do we say "Das Brot" ? Shouldn't that change in the accusative case, since after all the bread is being eaten by the man?
Well no.
http://german.about.com/library/blcase_acc.htm Scroll down a hair.
This lists all the instances when Der, Das, and Die change depending on the case Subjective, Accusative, etc..
In Accusative case, only Der changes to Den. The rest stay the same. In other cases, there are more changes. But for the accusative case, that is all.
Therefore Das Brot is correct.
Phew
No problem!
This may sound ironic, paradoxical, or even wrong, but the best way to learn is to teach.
I'm certainly no expert on German. But when someone has a question that I at least think I know the answer to, I try to answer it and teach it fully. If I doubt myself, then I look it up to confirm what I'm trying to teach. If I can't be 100% sure what I'm trying to teach/share is 100% correct, I will not post it. Instead I'll try to add to the question.
I highly encourage you to try teaching too. This process essentially forces you to re-study the material, but more importantly while you prepare the material for teaching you are being HIGHLY analytical of what you are saying (to ensure you aren't incorrect) which really really helps you understand all the itty bitty details.
I also don't mind writing lengthy explanations, although I try to keep it short for the sake of the reader...