Breakdown of Anna feiert heute, und die Überraschung macht sie glücklich.
sie
she
und
and
machen
to make, to do
heute
today
glücklich
happy
Anna
Anna
feiern
to celebrate
die Überraschung
the surprise
Questions & Answers about Anna feiert heute, und die Überraschung macht sie glücklich.
Since we are learning the Saxon Genitive, why isn't it Annas Überraschung in this sentence?
This sentence just says 'the surprise' (die Überraschung), implying it is a surprise for Anna, rather than a surprise she created or owns. If we specifically wanted to say 'Anna's surprise', we would indeed use the Saxon Genitive and say Annas Überraschung!
Why does the sentence use feiert instead of a word for "is" to mean "is celebrating"?
German doesn't have a direct equivalent to the English "is doing" continuous form. The simple present tense feiert translates to both "celebrates" and "is celebrating", depending on what makes the most sense in English.
Why does the second part of the sentence start with die Überraschung instead of the verb?
The word und (and) is a connecting word that doesn't change the word order of the sentence that follows it. The second clause just follows the normal rule: the subject (die Überraschung) comes first, and the verb (macht) stays in its strict second position.
Does sie mean "they" or "she" here?
Here, sie means "her" (referring to Anna). The word sie can mean "she", "they", or "her". Because the surprise is the subject doing the action, sie is the object receiving the action. In German, the accusative object form of "she" is also sie.
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