Learn German: Die Jungen und die Mädchen lachen oft. - The boys and the girls laugh often.

Die Jungen und die Mädchen lachen oft.

The boys and the girls laugh often.

Breakdown of Die Jungen und die Mädchen lachen oft.

Questions & Answers about Die Jungen und die Mädchen lachen oft.

Why do both Jungen and Mädchen use die for "the"?

In German, the plural article for "the" is always die, no matter what gender the noun has in its singular form. Even though it is der Junge (masculine) and das Mädchen (neuter) in the singular, they both use die when there is more than one.

Why doesn't the word Mädchen change its spelling to become plural?

Nouns that end in -chen never change their spelling in the plural. You can only tell it means "the girls" rather than "the girl" because it uses the plural article die instead of the singular article das.

How does der Junge change to become plural?

To make der Junge (the boy) plural, you just add an -n to the end, making it die Jungen. Many masculine nouns that end in -e form their plural this way.

Why do we use the verb lachen instead of lacht?

Because the subject is plural. "The boys and the girls" is a group, so we treat it as "they". In German, verbs for "they" usually end in -en, so we use the base form lachen.

The subject is very long. Does that change where the verb goes?