Breakdown of Er sucht Details über die Herkunft eines Namens.
ein
a, an (eine)
er
he
suchen
to look for
der Name
the name
Questions & Answers about Er sucht Details über die Herkunft eines Namens.
Why isn't there a word for "for" after sucht?
In English we say "looking for", but the German verb suchen already means "to look for" or "to search". It directly takes an Accusative object, so no extra preposition is needed.
Why do we use über for "about" here?
When you are talking, reading, or finding information "about" a specific topic, German typically uses the preposition über. In this context, it is always followed by the Accusative case. Here, the topic is die Herkunft (the origin).
What case is eines Namens, and what does it mean?
It is in the Genitive case, which is used to show possession or translate to "of a". Here, it means "of a name". Because Name is a masculine noun, the indefinite article changes to eines.
Why does Namens end with -ns?
The word der Name is a special masculine noun. It belongs to a group of words (often called weak nouns) that usually add an -n to the end in every case except the subject. But in the Genitive case, Name goes a step further and adds -ns, making it eines Namens.