Breakdown of Das Leben eines Ingenieurs ist oft anstrengend.
sein
to be
ein
a, an (eine)
oft
often
anstrengend
exhausting
das Leben
the life
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
der Ingenieur
the engineer
Questions & Answers about Das Leben eines Ingenieurs ist oft anstrengend.
Why does the sentence use eines Ingenieurs instead of ein Ingenieur?
It uses the genitive case to show possession, meaning "of an engineer" or "an engineer's". In the genitive case, the masculine indefinite article ein changes to eines.
Why is there an -s at the end of Ingenieurs?
In the genitive case, most masculine and neuter nouns add an -s or -es to the end of the word. Since Ingenieur is a masculine noun, it becomes Ingenieurs to match the genitive article eines.
Why does eines Ingenieurs come after Das Leben? In English we usually put the owner first ("An engineer's life").
In German, the genitive phrase (the "owner") almost always comes directly after the noun it belongs to. The sentence structure is literally "The life of an engineer".
anstrengend looks like it has a verb ending. Is it a verb or an adjective here?
It is an adjective here, meaning "exhausting" or "strenuous". It comes from the verb anstrengen (to strain or exhaust). Just like in English where adding "-ing" to a verb can make it an adjective, in German adding -d to the end of a verb creates a similar adjective.
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