Breakdown of Der hohe Turm gehört zum Schloss.
gehören
to belong to
zum
to the (zu + dem)
das Schloss
the castle
hoch
high
der Turm
the tower
Questions & Answers about Der hohe Turm gehört zum Schloss.
Why does the adjective hohe end in -e instead of -en?
Because Turm is a masculine noun (der Turm) and it is the subject of this sentence (nominative case). In the nominative case, after a definite article like der, die, or das, the adjective ending is always just -e. (If it were plural, it would take an -en: die hohen Türme).
The dictionary says "high" is hoch. Why isn't it spelled "hoche" here?
hoch is a famous spelling exception in German! Whenever you add any grammatical ending to it, it drops the c and just uses an h. That's why it becomes hohe, hohen, hohes, etc. It only keeps the c when it has no ending at all, for example: Der Turm ist hoch.
Why is it zum Schloss instead of just zu das Schloss?
The preposition zu (to) always forces the noun that follows it into the dative case. Since Schloss is a neuter noun (das Schloss), its dative article is dem. In everyday German, zu and dem merge together to form the short word zum.
I learned earlier that gehören takes a dative object directly. Why do we need zu here?
You can use gehören directly with a dative person to show ownership, like Der Turm gehört dem König (The tower belongs to the king). However, when you want to say one object is a physical part of another larger object—like a tower belonging to a castle complex—you use the phrase gehören zu.
Learn Der hohe Turm gehört zum Schloss and more in German
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free