Word
Wer kümmert sich um das Baby?
Meaning
Who is taking care of the baby?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Wer kümmert sich um das Baby?
wer
who
um
at (time)
das Baby
the baby
sich kümmern
to take care of
Questions & Answers about Wer kümmert sich um das Baby?
Why is sich used in this sentence?
The German verb for "to take care of" is sich kümmern. It is a reflexive verb, meaning it requires a reflexive pronoun. Literally, the sentence asks "Who is concerning themselves about the baby?".
Is the reflexive pronoun sich in the accusative or dative case here?
It is in the accusative case. sich kümmern is one of the verbs that always takes an accusative reflexive pronoun. Because the subject is the question word Wer (who), we use the third-person pronoun sich.
Why do we use um instead of a literal translation for "of"?
Many German verbs pair with specific prepositions that you simply have to memorize. sich kümmern is always followed by um when stating who or what is being cared for.
What case is das Baby in?
It is in the accusative case, but not because of the verb! The preposition um always forces the noun that follows it into the accusative case. Since Baby is a neuter noun, its article stays das.
Why does the verb end in -t (kümmert)?