Breakdown of Der Anwalt des Diebes kommt aus dem Gericht.
kommen
to come
aus
from / out of (made of)
der Dieb
the thief
der Anwalt
the lawyer
das Gericht
the court
Questions & Answers about Der Anwalt des Diebes kommt aus dem Gericht.
Why does the sentence use des Diebes to mean the thief's?
des Diebes is in the genitive case, which shows possession or belonging. In German, instead of using an apostrophe-s like in English, you often use the genitive article des for masculine and neuter nouns and put the owner right after the thing being owned. So, Der Anwalt des Diebes literally means the lawyer of the thief.
Why is an extra -es added to the end of Diebes?
In the genitive case, masculine and neuter nouns get an extra ending. Usually, it is just -s, but for short, one-syllable nouns like der Dieb, you usually add -es instead. This just makes it easier to pronounce!
Could I put the owner first and say Des Diebes Anwalt?
You might see that in very old poetry or fairy tales, but in modern German, the genitive phrase almost always comes after the noun it possesses. It is best to stick to Der Anwalt des Diebes.
Why is it aus dem Gericht instead of aus das Gericht?
The preposition aus (out of) always requires the dative case. Because the word for court, das Gericht, is a neuter noun, its article changes to dem in the dative case.
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