Word
Der Chef ruft den Kunden an.
Meaning
The boss is calling the customer.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Der Chef ruft den Kunden an.
der Chef
the boss (male)
anrufen
to call (by phone)
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
der Kunde
the customer
Questions & Answers about Der Chef ruft den Kunden an.
Why is it Kunden here? Does that mean there are multiple customers?
It actually means just one customer! Kunde (customer) belongs to a special group of masculine words called weak nouns (or N-declension). These nouns add an -n or -en to the end in all cases except the nominative (the subject). Since the customer is the direct object here (accusative), der Kunde becomes den Kunden. The plural form is also die Kunden, but we know it is singular here because the article is den (accusative masculine), not die (plural).
Why is the word an at the very end of the sentence?
It belongs to the verb anrufen (to call by phone). anrufen is a separable verb. In a standard present-tense sentence like this, the main part of the verb (ruft) stays in the second position, while the prefix (an) detaches and moves to the very end of the clause.
Wait, does Chef mean the boss or a cook?
In German, der Chef means the boss or the manager, not a cook! It is a classic false friend. If you want to talk about a professional cook in a restaurant, the German word is der Koch.
How do we know the boss is calling the customer, and not the other way around?