Breakdown of Wir haben am zehnten Oktober eine Prüfung.
ein
a, an (eine)
haben
to have
wir
we
die Prüfung
the exam
der Oktober
October
am
on the / at the
zehnte
tenth
Questions & Answers about Wir haben am zehnten Oktober eine Prüfung.
Why does the word for tenth end in -en (zehnten)?
Ordinal numbers act like adjectives. Because you are using am (which is a contraction that includes the dative word dem), the ordinal number gets the dative adjective ending -en. The base word for tenth is zehnte, but after am it becomes am zehnten.
Why do we use am before the date here instead of im?
am is short for an dem. In German, you use the preposition an plus the dative case to say that something happens on a specific day or date. If you were only saying the month, you would use im (like im Oktober), but because you are naming a specific day (the tenth), you must use am.
Why does the date (am zehnten Oktober) come before the object (eine Prüfung)?
In German, expressions of time usually come as early as possible in the sentence, often right after the conjugated verb. Since eine Prüfung is the direct object, it naturally gets pushed later in the sentence, following the time expression.
Is eine Prüfung in the accusative case here?
Yes! The verb haben (to have) always takes a direct object in the accusative case. Because Prüfung is a feminine noun (die Prüfung), the indefinite article is eine. It looks exactly the same as it does in the nominative case, but it is acting as the accusative object here.
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