Breakdown of Er sucht einen billigen Tisch, denn er hat nicht viel Geld.
ein
a, an (eine)
er
he
haben
to have
das Geld
the money
suchen
to look for
viel
much / a lot
der Tisch
the table
nicht
not
denn
because
billig
cheap
Questions & Answers about Er sucht einen billigen Tisch, denn er hat nicht viel Geld.
Why is it einen billigen Tisch and not just ein billig Tisch?
The verb suchen (to look for) takes a direct object, which means we must use the accusative case. Tisch (table) is a masculine noun. In the accusative case, the masculine article ein changes to einen. When an adjective comes after einen, it must take the -en ending, giving us einen billigen Tisch.
The English translation says 'looking for', but there is no word for 'for' in the German sentence. Where did it go?
In German, the verb suchen already means 'to look for' or 'to search for' all by itself. You do not need to add a preposition like für. You just put the thing you are looking for right after the verb.
Doesn't the word for 'because' usually push the verb to the very end of the sentence? Why is hat in the second position here?
You are probably thinking of the word weil, which also means 'because' and pushes the conjugated verb to the end of the clause. However, this sentence uses denn. The word denn is a special connector that takes up 'position zero,' meaning it does not count towards the sentence's word order. You simply follow it with normal structure: subject (er), then verb (hat).
Why doesn't the word viel have an adjective ending here?
When viel (much) or wenig (little) is used with singular, uncountable nouns like Geld (money) or Zeit (time), it generally does not take an adjective ending. It just stays exactly as viel.
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