Word
Entschuldigen Sie, wo ist der Bahnhof?
Meaning
Excuse me, where is the train station?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Entschuldigen Sie, wo ist der Bahnhof?
sein
to be
Sie
you (formal)
wo
where
der Bahnhof
the train station
Questions & Answers about Entschuldigen Sie, wo ist der Bahnhof?
Why is Sie included in Entschuldigen Sie? Doesn't English just say "Excuse"?
In German, the formal imperative (commands or polite requests using the formal "you") requires both the verb and the pronoun Sie. The verb always takes the -en ending and comes first, followed directly by Sie.
Entschuldigen Sie looks like the statement "You excuse". How can I tell it's a command or request here?
It is all about the word order! In a regular statement, the pronoun comes first (Sie entschuldigen). When making a polite formal request or command, the verb jumps to the front (Entschuldigen Sie).
Why is the word for "train station" (Bahnhof) masculine (der)?
Bahnhof is a compound word made of die Bahn (the railway) and der Hof (the courtyard). In German, the gender of a compound noun always matches its very last word. Since Hof is masculine, the whole word becomes der Bahnhof.
Why do we use der Bahnhof here instead of the accusative den Bahnhof?
We use the nominative case (der) because of the verb ist (is). The verb sein (to be) acts like an equals sign that describes a state, rather than an action being done to an object. Therefore, it never takes a direct object in the accusative case.