Breakdown of Der Glückwunsch kommt von der Familie.
kommen
to come
die Familie
the family
von
from, of / by (agent in passive clauses)
der Glückwunsch
the congratulation, the good wish
Questions & Answers about Der Glückwunsch kommt von der Familie.
Why does the German sentence use Der Glückwunsch (singular) when the English translation says "The good wishes" (plural)?
In German, it is very common to use the singular der Glückwunsch to express a congratulation or good wish, whereas English defaults to the plural "congratulations" or "good wishes". If the German sentence were plural, it would be Die Glückwünsche kommen.
Since we are learning about prepositions that take the accusative case, does von take the accusative here?
No, von (from) always takes the dative case. While prepositions like für, ohne, and gegen always take the accusative, von is a great reminder that other prepositions have their own strict case rules.
Wait, isn't Familie a feminine word? Why is it der Familie instead of die Familie?
You are right that it is normally die Familie. However, because the preposition von always forces the dative case, the feminine word for "the" changes from die to der. Seeing der in front of a feminine noun is a clear sign that you are looking at the dative case!
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