Word
Welche Leine schenkst du mir?
Meaning
Which leash are you gifting me?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Welche Leine schenkst du mir?
du
you (informal singular)
schenken
to give (as a gift)
mir
me / to me (dative)
welcher
which (question word)
Questions & Answers about Welche Leine schenkst du mir?
Why is it Welche with an -e at the end?
The word welch- changes its ending based on the gender and case of the noun it belongs to. Here, it belongs to Leine (leash), which is a feminine noun. Because the leash is the thing being given, it's the direct object (accusative case). For feminine nouns in the accusative case, we add -e, giving us Welche.
Why is the verb schenkst in the second position? Don't questions usually start with a verb?
Yes/no questions start with a verb, but "W-questions" (questions starting with words like who, what, where, or which) keep the verb in the second position. Here, the whole phrase Welche Leine (Which leash) counts as the first position block, so the verb schenkst comes right after it in position two.
Why does the sentence use mir instead of mich for "me"?
The verb schenken (to gift) usually takes two objects: the thing being gifted (the direct object in the accusative case) and the person receiving the gift (the indirect object in the dative case). Because you are the receiver, you use the dative pronoun mir.
Could I use geben (to give) instead of schenken here?
You could, but it would change the meaning slightly. geben just means to physically hand something over. schenken specifically means to give something as a present. So this sentence implies the leash is a gift, not just being handed to you for a walk!