Word
Ist das der einundzwanzigste Geburtstag von deiner Schwester?
Meaning
Is that your sister's 21st birthday?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Ist das der einundzwanzigste Geburtstag von deiner Schwester?
sein
to be
dein
your (informal)
die Schwester
the sister
der Geburtstag
the birthday
Questions & Answers about Ist das der einundzwanzigste Geburtstag von deiner Schwester?
Why does the number end in -ste here?
For numbers from 20 onwards, German ordinal numbers are formed by adding -ste (or -sten) to the base number. Since 21 is einundzwanzig, the 21st is einundzwanzigste. Earlier numbers from 2 to 19 just use -te.
Why does einundzwanzigste end with just an -e instead of -en?
Ordinal numbers follow the exact same ending rules as regular adjectives. Here, Geburtstag (birthday) is a masculine noun acting as the subject of the sentence (nominative case). After the definite article der, the adjective simply takes an -e.
Why is einundzwanzigste written as one giant word?
In German, compound numbers are written together as a single continuous word, no matter how long they get! So the words for "one-and-twentieth" literally mash together into einundzwanzigste.
Why does it say von deiner Schwester instead of von deine Schwester?
The preposition von (which means "of" or "from") always forces the following noun into the dative case. Because Schwester is a feminine noun, the possessive word deine must change to deiner in the dative.