Breakdown of Der Chef spricht mit dem Kollegen und wird wütend.
und
and
der Chef
the boss (male)
sprechen
to speak
der Kollege
the colleague
mit
with
werden
to become / to get (change of state)
wütend
angry
Questions & Answers about Der Chef spricht mit dem Kollegen und wird wütend.
Why does it say wird here, and how does it mean "getting"?
The verb werden means "to become" or "to get" (in the sense of a change of state). It is an irregular verb. For "he, she, it", the stem vowel changes from "e" to "i" and it drops the usual "t" ending, so er (he) becomes wird.
Why is there an "-n" on the end of Kollegen? Isn't there only one colleague?
Yes, it is singular! Der Kollege belongs to a special group of masculine nouns (often called weak nouns or n-declension nouns). When they are used in any role other than the subject, they get an extra -n or -en at the end. Because it follows mit, it is in the dative case and becomes dem Kollegen.
Why do we use dem instead of den before Kollegen?
The preposition mit (with) always requires the following noun to be in the dative case. Since der Kollege is a masculine noun, the dative word for "the" is dem.
Why is the verb spricht and not sprecht?
The verb sprechen (to speak) is irregular and changes its vowel for "he, she, it" and "you (singular)". For der Chef (he), the "e" changes to an "i", making it spricht. The form sprecht is only used for "you all" (ihr).
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