Questions & Answers about Mein Vater arbeitet sehr viel.
Why is it Mein Vater and not Meine Vater?
Vater (father) is a masculine noun. In the nominative case, which is used for the subject of the sentence, the word for 'my' before a masculine noun is simply mein without any added endings. You would use meine if the noun were feminine or plural.
Why does the verb arbeitet have an extra e before the final t?
The base verb is arbeiten (to work). When you remove the -en, you get the stem arbeit-, which ends in a t. To make it easier to pronounce for 'he, she, or it' (like Mein Vater), German adds a small e before the usual -t ending, making it arbeitet.
How would I say 'Your father works a lot' if I am talking to a friend?
You would replace Mein (My) with Dein (Your). Just like mein, the informal word dein doesn't get any extra endings when it comes before a masculine subject. The sentence would be: Dein Vater arbeitet sehr viel.
Can I just say viel instead of sehr viel to mean 'a lot'?