Breakdown of Der Kuchen schmeckt der Nachbarin wirklich gut.
gut
good / well
schmecken
to taste
wirklich
really
der Kuchen
the cake (simple, baked)
Questions & Answers about Der Kuchen schmeckt der Nachbarin wirklich gut.
Why does the sentence use der Nachbarin? Isn't der the masculine word for "the"?
Nachbarin is indeed a feminine noun (the female neighbor). However, the verb schmecken (to taste good) requires the person experiencing the taste to be in the dative case. In the dative case, the feminine article die changes to der.
Who is actually doing the action here? Is the cake the subject?
Exactly! In English, you usually say "The neighbor tastes the cake." But with schmecken, the food is the subject (in the nominative case). You can think of it literally as "The cake is tasty to the neighbor." Because Der Kuchen is the subject, it uses the regular nominative der.
Can I change the word order to Der Kuchen schmeckt wirklich gut der Nachbarin?
It is much more natural to use the original order. In German, a dative object like der Nachbarin usually comes right after the verb, before descriptive adverbs or adjectives like wirklich gut.
How would I change this sentence to say "The cake tastes really good to me"?
You would replace the dative noun phrase der Nachbarin with the dative pronoun for "me", which is mir. The sentence becomes: Der Kuchen schmeckt mir wirklich gut.