Breakdown of Welcher Hund trägt das Halsband?
der Hund
the dog
tragen
to carry, to wear
welcher
which (welcher, welche, welches, welchen, welchem...)
das Halsband
the collar
Questions & Answers about Welcher Hund trägt das Halsband?
Why does the sentence start with Welcher instead of another form like Welchen?
The word welch- changes its ending depending on the gender and case of the noun, just like the words for "the" (der/die/das). Here, Hund is a masculine noun (der Hund) and is the subject of the sentence (the one wearing the collar). Therefore, we need the masculine nominative ending -er, making it Welcher.
Why does the verb trägt have an umlaut?
The verb tragen (to wear/carry) is a strong verb that changes its stem vowel from a to ä for the "you" (du) and "he/she/it" (er/sie/es) forms. Because "which dog" is a third-person singular subject (like he/she/it), the correct form is trägt.
Is das Halsband in the nominative or accusative case here?
It is in the accusative case! The dog is the subject (nominative), and the collar is the direct object receiving the action (the thing being worn). For neuter nouns like das Halsband, the nominative and accusative words for "the" are both das, so it doesn't change its shape.
I learned that tragen means "to carry". Why is it translated as "wearing" here?
In German, tragen means both "to carry" (like carrying a heavy box) and "to wear" (like wearing a shirt, glasses, or a collar). You have to use the context of the sentence to figure out which English translation makes the most sense!
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