Breakdown of Saure Zitronen schmecken mir nicht.
nicht
not
schmecken
to taste
mir
me / to me (dative)
die Zitrone
the lemon
sauer
sour
Questions & Answers about Saure Zitronen schmecken mir nicht.
Why does the adjective sauer get an -e ending here?
In this sentence, Zitronen is plural and acts as the subject (nominative case). Because there is no article like die or meine in front of it, the adjective has to show the case. For plural nominative nouns with no article, we add the ending -e.
The dictionary word for sour is sauer, so why is it spelled saure instead of sauere?
Adjectives that end in -er or -el usually drop their last e when an adjective ending is added to make them easier to pronounce. So the base word sauer becomes saur-, and when we add the -e ending, we get saure.
Why do we use the dative pronoun mir instead of ich or mich?
The verb schmecken (to taste) requires a dative object for the person experiencing the taste. You are literally saying that the lemons do not taste good to me. The to me part is expressed using the dative pronoun mir.
Why does nicht go at the very end of the sentence?
When nicht is used to negate the entire statement or the main verb of the sentence (here, negating that the lemons taste good to you), it naturally falls to the end of the clause.
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