Breakdown of Wir brauchen die Hilfe unseres Ingenieurs.
wir
we
brauchen
to need
unser
our
die Hilfe
the help
Questions & Answers about Wir brauchen die Hilfe unseres Ingenieurs.
Why does this sentence say unseres Ingenieurs instead of just unser Ingenieur?
This is the genitive case in action! The genitive is used to show possession, similar to adding "'s" or using "of" in English. Here, it tells us whose help we need (the help of our engineer).
Why is there an -es at the end of unseres?
Ingenieur is a masculine noun. In the genitive case, possessive articles like unser (our) take the ending -es when they come before masculine or neuter nouns. Therefore, unser becomes unseres.
Why does Ingenieurs have an -s at the end? It's just one engineer, right?
Yes, it is singular! But the genitive case doesn't just change the article (like unseres); it often changes the noun itself. Most masculine and neuter nouns get an extra -s or -es added to the end in the genitive case. So, der Ingenieur becomes des Ingenieurs.
Why does the German sentence put the engineer at the end? In English we say "our engineer's help".
In English, we usually put the owner first ("our engineer's help"). In German, the genitive phrase almost always comes after the thing being owned. It helps to think of it like the English structure "the help of our engineer" (die Hilfe + unseres Ingenieurs).