Breakdown of Tauschen Sie Ihren kaputten Computer um, weil er alt ist!
sein
to be
er
he
Sie
you (formal)
alt
old
der Computer
the computer
Ihr
your (formal)
kaputt
broken
weil
because (subordinating)
umtauschen
to exchange
Questions & Answers about Tauschen Sie Ihren kaputten Computer um, weil er alt ist!
The current lesson is about the -en adjective ending in the dative case. Is Ihren kaputten Computer in the dative?
No, it is actually in the accusative case! The verb umtauschen takes a direct object, so we use the accusative. For a masculine noun like Computer, the possessive article gets an -en ending (Ihren) and the adjective also gets an -en ending (kaputten). It is a great reminder that adjectives after possessive articles get the exact same -en ending in the masculine accusative case as they do in the dative case.
Why is um sitting all by itself right before the comma?
The verb used here is umtauschen (to exchange), which is a separable verb. In a formal command like Tauschen Sie ... um, the prefix um separates from the core verb and moves to the very end of its clause.
Why does the sentence use er (he) instead of es (it) for the computer?
In German, pronouns must always match the grammatical gender of the noun they replace. Because Computer is a masculine noun (der Computer), you must use the masculine pronoun er to refer back to it, even though we just say "it" in English.
Why is the verb ist pushed to the very end of the sentence?
The word weil (because) is a subordinating conjunction. Whenever you introduce a new clause with weil, it forces the conjugated verb (in this case, ist) to move all the way to the end of that clause.
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