Breakdown of Die Kinder essen gut und werden stark.
das Kind
the child
und
and
gut
good / well
essen
to eat
werden
to become / to get (change of state)
stark
strong
Questions & Answers about Die Kinder essen gut und werden stark.
Why do we use werden here instead of a word that sounds like 'become'?
The German verb werden means to become or to get (when talking about a change of state). Watch out for the false friend: the German word bekommen actually means to receive or to get a thing, not to become! So, to say the children 'become strong' or 'get strong', you must use werden.
How does werden change if the sentence was about just one child?
Because die Kinder is plural, we use the plural form werden. If it were just one child (das Kind), you would use wird. The verb werden has a vowel change for the 'you' and 'he/she/it' forms in the present tense: ich werde, du wirst, er/sie/es wird.
Why doesn't stark have an ending like -e or -en here?
When an adjective comes after a verb like sein (to be) or werden (to become) to describe the subject, it does not get any extra letters. It stays in its basic dictionary form. You only add endings to adjectives when they are placed directly in front of a noun.
The English translation says they eat 'well'. Why does the German sentence just use gut?
In English, we distinguish between 'good' (to describe a noun) and 'well' (to describe how an action is done). In German, gut does both jobs! It can mean 'good' or 'well', so it perfectly describes the action of eating (essen) here.
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