Questions & Answers about Das Kind antwortet dem Lehrer.
Why is it dem Lehrer instead of den Lehrer?
In English, you answer someone directly, but in German, the verb antworten requires the dative case. You can think of it as giving an answer to someone. Since Lehrer is a masculine noun (der Lehrer), the nominative der changes to the dative dem.
How do I know if dem means masculine or neuter in this sentence?
Why doesn't Das Kind change to Dem Kind?
Das Kind is the subject of the sentence, meaning the child is the one doing the answering. The subject always stays in the basic nominative case. The dative case is only applied to the person receiving the answer (dem Lehrer).
Why does the verb antwortet have an extra e before the final t?
The basic verb is antworten, and its stem is antwort-, which ends in a t. If we just added the normal he/she/it ending (-t), it would be unpronounceable (antwortt). To fix this, German adds an extra e, making it antwortet.
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