Word
Am Stand verkaufen sie reife Tomaten.
Meaning
At the stall they sell ripe tomatoes.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Am Stand verkaufen sie reife Tomaten.
sie
they
die Tomate
the tomato
verkaufen
to sell
am
on the / at the
Questions & Answers about Am Stand verkaufen sie reife Tomaten.
Why is the ending on reife just -e?
Tomaten is a plural noun and the direct object (accusative case). Because there is no article like die or meine in front of it, the adjective reif has to show the case and plural status. It takes the strong ending -e to become reife.
Why is the verb verkaufen before the subject sie?
In German, the main verb must always be in the second position of the sentence. Since this sentence starts with the location phrase Am Stand (position one), the verb verkaufen takes position two, pushing the subject sie (they) into position three.
Where does the word Am come from?
Am is a contraction of the preposition an (at) and the article dem (the). Stand is a masculine noun (der Stand). Because the action happens at a fixed location rather than showing movement towards it, an triggers the dative case, changing der to dem.
How do we know sie means "they" and not "she"?