Breakdown of Ich brauche deinen Spiegel, um mich zu schminken.
ich
I
brauchen
to need
mich
me
dein
your (informal)
der Spiegel
the mirror
sich schminken
to put on makeup
um ... zu
in order to
Questions & Answers about Ich brauche deinen Spiegel, um mich zu schminken.
Why is it deinen Spiegel and not dein Spiegel?
Spiegel is a masculine noun (der Spiegel) and it acts as the direct object of the verb brauchen (to need). This puts it in the accusative case, so the possessive word needs the masculine accusative ending -en.
If this lesson is about possessive pronouns replacing nouns, how would I drop the noun and just say "I need yours"?
You would say: Ich brauche deinen. For masculine nouns in the accusative case, the standalone pronoun that replaces the noun looks exactly the same as the possessive determiner we used before the noun in this sentence.
What does the um ... zu structure do here?
The phrase um ... zu means "in order to". German uses this whenever you want to express the purpose or goal of an action. While English often just uses "to" ("to put on makeup"), German requires um at the start of the clause and zu right before the infinitive verb at the end.
Why do we need mich in the second part of the sentence?
The verb for putting on makeup is reflexive in German: sich schminken (literally "to makeup oneself"). Because the person doing the action is still ich (I), you must use the reflexive pronoun mich (myself). The literal translation of the clause is "in order to makeup myself".
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