Word
Das Auto gehört dem Polizisten.
Meaning
The car belongs to the police officer.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Das Auto gehört dem Polizisten.
das Auto
the car
gehören
to belong to
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
der Polizist
the police officer
Questions & Answers about Das Auto gehört dem Polizisten.
Why is the word Polizisten used instead of just Polizist?
Polizist is a masculine "weak noun" (part of the n-declension). These special masculine nouns add an -n or -en to the end in every case except the nominative (when it is the subject). Because the officer is the object in this sentence, the noun takes the -en ending.
Why do we use the dative article dem here instead of the accusative den?
The verb gehören (to belong to) is a special verb that always requires its object to be in the dative case. Since Polizist is a masculine noun, the article "the" must become the dative dem.
Does the -en ending on Polizisten mean there is more than one police officer?
Not in this sentence! While Polizisten is also the plural form, we know this is a single officer because of the article dem (the dative masculine singular "the"). If it were plural ("The car belongs to the police officers"), it would use the dative plural article den: Das Auto gehört den Polizisten.
Could I say Dem Polizisten gehört das Auto instead?