Breakdown of Werfen Sie den Müll in den Papierkorb?
in
in
Sie
you (formal)
der Müll
the trash / the garbage
werfen
to throw
Questions & Answers about Werfen Sie den Müll in den Papierkorb?
Why do we use in den Papierkorb instead of in dem Papierkorb?
in is a two-way preposition. When it describes movement towards a destination (answering the question "Where to?" or Wohin?), it requires the accusative case. Because the trash is being moved into the basket, the masculine noun der Papierkorb takes the accusative article den. If the trash was already resting inside the basket, we would use the dative case (in dem Papierkorb).
Why is the word for trash den Müll here?
Müll is the direct object of the sentence because it is the item being thrown. Direct objects take the accusative case. Since Müll is a masculine noun (der Müll), the article changes to den.
The English translation says "Are you throwing", but where is the word for "are"?
German does not have a continuous "-ing" tense like English. The single verb form Werfen Sie translates to both "Do you throw" and "Are you throwing" depending on the context.
How do I know the gender of a long word like Papierkorb?
Papierkorb is a compound noun made of das Papier (paper) and der Korb (basket). In German, the final word in a compound noun always determines the gender of the whole word. Since it is der Korb, the full word is der Papierkorb.