Word
In wen verliebt sich der Single?
Meaning
Who is the single falling in love with?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of In wen verliebt sich der Single?
in
in
wen
whom (accusative)
sich verlieben
to fall in love
der Single
the single (person)
Questions & Answers about In wen verliebt sich der Single?
Why is it In wen and not just Wen?
The verb sich verlieben (to fall in love) requires the preposition in. When asking a question about a person with a prepositional verb, the preposition comes first, combining with the question word to make In wen (Into whom).
Why use the accusative wen here instead of the dative wem?
in is a two-way preposition. With sich verlieben, it always takes the accusative case. You can imagine the feeling of falling in love as an active movement directed towards someone, which triggers the accusative wen.
Why is the word sich in this sentence?
The German verb for falling in love is reflexive: sich verlieben (literally: to fall in love oneself). Because the subject der Single is third-person singular (he/she), the matching reflexive pronoun is sich.
Why does sich come before the subject der Single?
In questions where the subject is a full noun rather than a pronoun, it is very common for the short pronoun sich to tuck in right after the verb. Saying In wen verliebt der Single sich? is also perfectly correct, but the order used here sounds very natural to German ears.