Breakdown of Das Auto fährt gegen den Baum.
das Auto
the car
der Baum
the tree
fahren
to drive, to travel
gegen
against
Questions & Answers about Das Auto fährt gegen den Baum.
Why is it den Baum and not der Baum?
The preposition gegen always requires the accusative case. Since Baum is a masculine noun (der Baum), the accusative case changes der to den.
Doesn't gegen mean "against"? Why is it translated as "into"?
You are exactly right! Literally, the sentence means the car drives "against" the tree. In English, we usually say a car crashes "into" a tree, but German uses gegen to describe this kind of physical collision.
Why does fährt have an umlaut (ä)?
The infinitive verb is fahren (to drive), but it has a stem vowel change. When using it with he, she, or it (er, sie, es), the a changes to an ä. Since das Auto acts as an "it", we use fährt.
Is das Auto also in the accusative case in this sentence?
No, das Auto is the subject of the sentence (the thing doing the driving), so it is in the nominative case. The word das happens to look exactly the same in both nominative and accusative! The only part in the accusative case here is den Baum, because it is forced by the preposition gegen.
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