Breakdown of Er trägt den leichten Hut.
er
he
tragen
to carry, to wear
leicht
light / lightweight
der Hut
the hat
Questions & Answers about Er trägt den leichten Hut.
Why is an -en added to the end of leicht?
Here, leicht (lightweight) is describing the masculine noun Hut. Because Hut is the direct object of the sentence, it is in the accusative case. When an adjective comes after a definite article (like den) in the masculine accusative case, it takes the ending -en, making it leichten.
Why is the article den instead of der?
Hut (hat) is a masculine noun, so its default article is der. However, because the hat is the thing being worn, it is the direct object of the verb tragen. In German, masculine direct objects change from the nominative der to the accusative den.
Why is there an umlaut on trägt?
The infinitive of the verb is tragen (to wear or to carry). It is a strong verb that changes its stem vowel from a to ä in the du (you) and er/sie/es (he/she/it) forms. So, for er (he), it becomes trägt.
Can leicht also mean light in color, like a light blue hat?
No, leicht only means light in weight or easy. If you want to talk about a light color, you must use the word hell. A light-colored hat would be der helle Hut.
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