Questions & Answers about Ich denke an meinen Neffen.
Why is the word for nephew spelled Neffen here instead of Neffe?
Neffe (nephew) belongs to a special group of masculine nouns that use the N-declension (weak nouns). These nouns add an -n or -en to the end in every case except the nominative (the subject). Since the nephew is the object of the preposition here and not the subject, Neffe gets an extra -n to become Neffen.
Why do we use an when the English translation says about?
In German, the verb denken (to think) teams up with the preposition an to mean to think about. Prepositions rarely translate word-for-word between languages, so it is best to memorize the whole phrase denken an.
Why is the phrase meinen Neffen in the accusative case?
The preposition an is a two-way preposition, meaning it can sometimes take the dative case. However, when it is used as a fixed pair with the verb denken, it always forces the following noun phrase into the accusative case.
Why does mein change to meinen?
Because the phrase is in the accusative case and Neffe is a masculine noun, the possessive word mein (my) must take the masculine accusative ending -en. This makes it meinen.
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