Breakdown of Dieser Balkon ist sehr schön, aber unserer ist ruhiger.
sein
to be
schön
beautiful
sehr
very
aber
but
der Balkon
the balcony
dieser
this / that (fem.: diese, neut.: dieses)
ruhig
quiet, calm
unserer
ours [pronoun, also: unseres, unsere]
Questions & Answers about Dieser Balkon ist sehr schön, aber unserer ist ruhiger.
Why is it unserer instead of just unser?
In German, when a possessive word stands alone and replaces a noun entirely (like saying "ours" instead of "our balcony"), it takes a special ending. If it were right in front of the noun, you would just say unser Balkon. Because it stands alone here, it needs that extra ending to become unserer.
Why does unserer end in -er specifically?
It is replacing the noun Balkon, which is masculine (der Balkon). Because "ours" is the subject of the second half of the sentence, it is in the nominative case. The standalone possessive ending for masculine nominative is -er (similar to der or dieser).
Does the word dieser at the beginning also tell us the gender of Balkon?
Yes! Because Balkon is the subject of the first part of the sentence (nominative case), the word for "this" takes the masculine nominative ending -er, making it dieser. This perfectly matches the -er ending on unserer later in the sentence.
How does ruhiger mean "quieter"?
To say something is "more" of an adjective (the comparative form), German simply adds -er to the end of the word, very much like English! The base adjective is ruhig (quiet), so adding -er makes it ruhiger (quieter).
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