Breakdown of Die Stadt hat eine Million Einwohner.
ein
a, an (eine)
haben
to have
die Stadt
the city
die Million
the million
der Einwohner
the inhabitant
Questions & Answers about Die Stadt hat eine Million Einwohner.
Why is it eine Million instead of just ein Million or Million?
Unlike hundert (a hundred) and tausend (a thousand), Million is an actual noun in German. Specifically, it's a feminine noun (die Million). Because of this, it is capitalized and takes the feminine article eine.
If the city had two million people, would Million become plural?
Yes! Because Million is a noun, it changes in the plural to Millionen. So "two million inhabitants" would be zwei Millionen Einwohner. (In contrast, tausend always stays tausend).
In English, we sometimes say "a million of something." Do I need a word for "of" before Einwohner?
No. Even though Million acts like a noun, you just place the thing being counted directly after it, just like you would with hundert or tausend. You don't need a preposition like von.
Why doesn't Einwohner (inhabitants) have a plural ending like -s or -en?
Der Einwohner is a masculine noun that ends in -er. Most masculine and neuter nouns ending in -er, -el, or -en don't add an extra ending in the plural. So, one inhabitant is ein Einwohner, and a million are eine Million Einwohner.
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