Breakdown of Wer braucht den Koffer und einen Rucksack?
ein
a, an (eine)
und
and
brauchen
to need
der Koffer
the suitcase
wer
who
der Rucksack
the backpack
Questions & Answers about Wer braucht den Koffer und einen Rucksack?
Why is it einen Rucksack instead of just ein Rucksack?
Because the backpack is the direct object of the sentence—it is the thing being needed. This puts it in the accusative case. Since Rucksack is a masculine noun (der Rucksack), the word for "a" changes from ein to einen.
Why do we use den Koffer but einen Rucksack?
The sentence translates to "the suitcase" and "a backpack". Both are masculine nouns in the accusative case, but one uses the definite article (den for "the") and the other uses the indefinite article (einen for "a").
Why does the verb braucht end in "-t"?
The question word wer (who) acts as a singular subject, just like er, sie, or es (he, she, it). Because of this, the verb brauchen (to need) takes the third-person singular ending, becoming braucht.
It looks like wer should mean "where", but the translation says "who". Is that right?
Yes! This is a very common mix-up for English speakers. In German, wer means "who", and wo means "where".
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