Breakdown of Der andere Mann ist mein Freund.
sein
to be
der Mann
the man
der Freund
the friend
mein
my
andere
other, different
Questions & Answers about Der andere Mann ist mein Freund.
Since this lesson is about demonstrative pronouns, is Der here just "The" or is it a demonstrative?
It can be both! In German, the normal definite articles (der, die, das) are very frequently used as demonstrative pronouns to mean "that" or "this". If you put heavy emphasis on Der when speaking, the sentence means "That other man is my friend."
Why is it andere and not anderer, since Mann is a masculine word?
Because the masculine "r" signal is already doing its job on the word Der. When the article right in front already shows the gender clearly, the descriptive word (andere) just takes a simple -e ending for the subject of the sentence.
Does mein Freund mean "my friend" or "my boyfriend"?
It actually means both! However, saying mein Freund to adults usually implies "my boyfriend" in German. If you want to talk about a platonic male friend without giving the wrong idea, it is much safer to say ein Freund von mir (a friend of mine).
Why is it mein Freund and not the object form meinen Freund?
Because of the verb ist (is). The verb "to be" acts like an equals sign connecting two things that are the same. Since "the other man" is the subject of the sentence, the thing he equals ("my friend") also stays in the basic subject case. We only use meinen when someone is the direct receiver of an action.
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