Questions & Answers about Wir verstehen die Leute nicht.
Why is it die Leute? Did the article change for the accusative case?
die Leute is the direct object of the sentence (the group being understood), so it is in the accusative case. However, the plural definite article die stays exactly the same in both the nominative (subject) and accusative (object) cases! Only the masculine article der changes to den.
Is Leute a singular or plural noun?
Leute means "people" and is always a plural noun. There is no singular form of this exact word in German! Because it is plural, it takes the plural article die.
Why does nicht go at the very end of this sentence?
In German, when you want to negate the main action of the sentence (the fact that we understand), the word nicht typically gets pushed to the end. It comes after the direct object (die Leute).
Why does the verb verstehen end in -en?
The subject of the sentence is Wir (we). When a verb is paired with wir, it uses its infinitive form, which is just the standard dictionary version of the word that ends in -en.