Word
Der Lehrer hilft dem Studenten.
Meaning
The teacher is helping the student.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Der Lehrer hilft dem Studenten.
helfen
to help
der Lehrer
the teacher
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
der Student
the university student
Questions & Answers about Der Lehrer hilft dem Studenten.
Why is it Studenten instead of Student if there is only one student?
Student belongs to a special group of masculine nouns known as weak nouns (or n-declension nouns). These nouns add an -n or -en to the end in every case except the nominative (when they are the subject). Because the student is the object receiving help in this sentence, the word gets the extra -en.
Why do we use the dative dem Studenten instead of the accusative den Studenten?
In English, you just "help someone," which feels like a direct object. But in German, the verb helfen strictly requires the person receiving help to be in the dative case. Therefore, the masculine article der changes to dem.
Wait, isn't Studenten also the plural form? How do I know the teacher isn't helping multiple students?
You have to look at the article before the noun! dem is the dative singular masculine article, so we know it is just one student. If the teacher were helping a group of students, the sentence would use the dative plural article den, making it Der Lehrer hilft den Studenten.
Why is the verb spelled hilft and not helft?