Breakdown of Die Einladung ist für alle Freunde.
sein
to be
alle
all, everyone
der Freund
the friend
für
for
die Einladung
the invitation
Questions & Answers about Die Einladung ist für alle Freunde.
We learned alle is a pronoun, but here it is right next to a noun. How does that work?
Words like etwas (something) and nichts (nothing) usually stand completely on their own. However, indefinite pronouns like alle (all) and viele (many) can also act like articles directly in front of a noun to tell you how much or how many of that noun there are. Here, it specifies the friends: alle Freunde.
Why is the ending -e on alle in this sentence?
The preposition für always forces the following noun phrase into the accusative case. Since Freunde is plural, you need the accusative plural form of "all", which is alle. It happens to look exactly the same as the nominative (subject) form, but grammatically it is accusative because of für!
Why doesn't the German sentence say "alle die Freunde" for "all the friends"?
Unlike English, where you often say "all the [plural noun]", German skips the definite article after alle. You simply put alle directly in front of the noun: alle Freunde.
Does Freunde only refer to male friends?
Freunde is the plural of der Freund (the male friend), but in German, it is standardly used to talk about a mixed group of male and female friends. If the invitation was for a group of only female friends, you would use alle Freundinnen.
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