Word
Ich lade den Franzosen ein.
Meaning
I am inviting the Frenchman.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Ich lade den Franzosen ein.
ich
I
einladen
to invite
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
der Franzose
the Frenchman
Questions & Answers about Ich lade den Franzosen ein.
Why is it Franzosen instead of Franzose?
This is because der Franzose (the Frenchman) belongs to a special group of masculine nouns called weak nouns (N-declension). Whenever a weak noun is used in any case other than the nominative (the subject), it gets an extra -n or -en. Since he is the one being invited, he is the direct object (accusative case), so the word becomes den Franzosen.
Wait, is Franzosen plural here? It looks like a plural ending.
It looks just like the plural, but it is actually singular here! You can tell because the article is den (masculine accusative singular). If it were plural (the Frenchmen), the accusative article would be die, making the sentence Ich lade die Franzosen ein.
Why is the word ein at the very end of the sentence?
The verb in this sentence is einladen (to invite), which is a separable verb. In a standard present-tense sentence, the main part of the verb (lade) goes in the second position, and the prefix (ein) gets kicked to the very end of the clause.
Doesn't the verb einladen usually have an umlaut?