Breakdown of Alle Kollegen nehmen an der Feier teil.
alle
all, everyone
der Kollege
the colleague
die Feier
the celebration
teilnehmen an
to participate in
Questions & Answers about Alle Kollegen nehmen an der Feier teil.
Why is it an der Feier when the English translation says "participating in"?
The verb teilnehmen (to take part / participate) has a fixed preposition: it is always paired with an. Prepositions rarely translate word-for-word, so it is best to memorize the combination teilnehmen an rather than trying to guess the preposition based on English.
Why does the sentence use der Feier? Isn't it die Feier?
Yes, Feier is a feminine noun (die Feier). However, when an is used as a fixed preposition with teilnehmen, it requires the dative case. In the dative case, the feminine article die changes to der.
What is the word teil doing at the end of the sentence?
It is the prefix of the separable verb teilnehmen. In a normal present-tense sentence, the main part of the verb (nehmen) takes the second position, and the separable prefix (teil) gets pushed to the very end of the sentence.
Why does Kollegen end in "-n"?
Kollegen is the plural form here. The singular is der Kollege (the male colleague). It belongs to a group of masculine nouns ending in "-e" that simply add an "-n" to become plural (die Kollegen).