Word
Das Auto funktioniert nicht.
Meaning
The car is not working.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
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Questions & Answers about Das Auto funktioniert nicht.
Why does nicht come at the very end of the sentence?
When you want to negate the entire action of a sentence, nicht usually goes at the end. Here, it negates the verb funktioniert to say that the functioning of the car as a whole is simply not happening.
The English translation says "is not working". Why doesn't the German sentence have a word for "is"?
German doesn't have a continuous tense like "is doing" or "is working" in English. The single verb funktioniert translates to both "works" and "is working". So, funktioniert nicht covers both "does not work" and "is not working".
Could I use the verb arbeiten instead of funktionieren here to say the car isn't working?
No, arbeiten is used when a person or animal is doing labor or a job. For machines, devices, or systems that are operating correctly, you must use funktionieren.
Why is the article Das used here?
Auto is a neuter noun in German, so it takes the neuter definite article das for "the". Because the car is the subject performing the action, it is in the basic nominative case.