5 Comments
Why is the plural 'elephanten' used here? The 'correct' translation in English is 'he even has an elephant'. The -en ending on einen indicates the accusative male singular case, and I have not been aware of -en endings on the end of accusitive weak masculine nouns, unlike the dative. Can anyone explain the reason for this -en on elefanten if it is singular?
The -en is added because "der Elefant" is a weak masculine noun. Those kinds of nouns add an -en in the plural and all the singular cases except nominative. Here's a website I found that gives more information: http://www.pauljoycegerman.co.uk/abinitio/chap11-9.html I hope this helps!
No, in a normal German sentence like this one, the verb has to be in the second position. This website explains word order with more detail: http://www.coerll.utexas.edu/gg/gr/con_06.html
