Breakdown of Besuchst du deinen Partner?
du
you (informal singular)
besuchen
to visit
der Partner
the partner (male)
deinen
your (informal singular, accusative masculine)
Questions & Answers about Besuchst du deinen Partner?
Why is it deinen instead of just dein?
In this sentence, the partner is the direct object (the person being visited). Because der Partner is a masculine noun, the possessive word dein (your) must change to the accusative case. It takes the -en ending, becoming deinen.
If I were speaking to someone formally, how would this sentence change?
If you were using the formal 'you', the pronoun du would change to Sie and the verb would become Besuchen. The possessive word 'your' would change to the formal version, Ihr, which also needs the masculine accusative ending, becoming Ihren. The full sentence would be: Besuchen Sie Ihren Partner?
The English translation says 'Are you visiting', but where is the word for 'are'?
German doesn't have a continuous 'are doing' or 'is doing' tense like English does. The single verb form besuchst covers both 'visit' and 'are visiting'.
Why does the sentence start with the verb Besuchst?
To ask a yes/no question in German, you move the verb to the very first position. While a normal statement is Du besuchst (You visit), the question becomes Besuchst du (Are you visiting).