Questions & Answers about Er sucht seine Wohnung.
Why is it seine instead of just sein?
The base word for 'his' is sein. However, because Wohnung (apartment) is a feminine noun and acts as the direct object (accusative case) being looked for in this sentence, we have to add the feminine accusative ending -e.
The English translation says 'looking for', but there is no word for 'for' in the German sentence. Why?
The German verb suchen translates fully to 'to search for' or 'to look for'. The concept of 'for' is already built directly into the verb itself, so you don't need to add an extra preposition in German.
Is there an easy way to remember that Wohnung is a feminine noun?
Yes! There is a very handy rule for this: almost all German nouns that end in the suffix -ung are feminine. This immediately tells you to use feminine forms like die, eine, or seine.
Why does the translation use 'is looking' if the German verb is just sucht?
German doesn't have a separate '-ing' tense (present continuous) like English does. Depending on the situation, the simple present tense er sucht can mean either 'he looks' or 'he is looking'.