Questions & Answers about Jeder macht Fehler.
Why does jeder take the singular verb macht instead of a plural verb?
Jeder translates to "everyone" or "everybody". Just like in English ("everyone makes"), it is treated as a singular subject (like he/she/it). That is why the verb takes the third-person singular form macht.
Why does the word for everyone end in -er (jeder)?
When referring to people in general, German uses the masculine form jeder. It takes the same case endings as the definite article der. Since "everyone" is the subject doing the action in this sentence, it is in the nominative case, giving us jeder.
How do we know Fehler means "mistakes" in plural, rather than "a mistake"?
The noun der Fehler (the mistake) is a word that does not change its spelling in the plural. You can tell it means the plural "mistakes" here because there is no article like einen (a) in front of it. "Everyone makes a mistake" would be Jeder macht einen Fehler.
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