Questions & Answers about Niemand wusste die Antwort.
Why does the verb change to wusste instead of just adding a normal past tense ending?
The infinitive is wissen (to know). It is an irregular (specifically, a "mixed") verb in the simple past (Präteritum). It changes its stem vowel from i to u, and then takes the standard past tense ending -te for the third-person singular.
Why do we use wusste here instead of kannte?
German has two verbs for "to know". kennen (past tense: kannte) is used when you are familiar with a person, place, or object. wissen (past tense: wusste) is used when you know facts or specific pieces of information, such as an answer to a question.
Is the word niemand considered singular or plural?
Niemand (nobody / no one) is always singular. It takes the exact same verb endings as er, sie, or es (he, she, it). That is why we use the singular form wusste instead of the plural wussten.
If die Antwort is the direct object, why doesn't the article die change?
die Antwort is indeed the direct object, meaning it is in the accusative case. However, Antwort is a feminine noun, and the feminine article die looks exactly the same in both the nominative (subject) and accusative (direct object) cases.
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