Word
Was liest der Mann morgens?
Meaning
What does the man read in the morning?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Was liest der Mann morgens?
Why is the verb liest instead of lest?
The dictionary form of the verb is lesen (to read). It is a strong verb, which means its main vowel changes in the present tense for the du (you) and er/sie/es (he/she/it) forms. Because the subject here is der Mann (he), the e changes to ie, making it liest.
Where is the German word for does in this question?
German does not use helper words like do or does to ask questions. Instead of saying What does the man read, German simply swaps the order to ask What reads the man (Was liest der Mann).
Why does the verb liest come right after the question word Was?
In German questions that start with a question word like Was (what), Wo (where), or Wer (who), the verb must always take the second position in the sentence. The subject (der Mann) comes immediately after it.
Why is morgens lowercase and ending in an s?
The noun for morning is der Morgen (capitalized, with no s). By making it lowercase and adding an s, it turns into an adverb of time meaning in the morning or every morning.