Breakdown of Im Kindergarten spielen die Kinder.
das Kind
the child
spielen
to play
der Kindergarten
the kindergarten, the nursery school
Questions & Answers about Im Kindergarten spielen die Kinder.
Why isn't this an imperative (command) sentence, even though the verb spielen comes before the subject?
In German, the verb is always the second idea in a normal statement. Because the sentence starts with the location Im Kindergarten, the verb spielen must come next, pushing the subject die Kinder after it. A formal imperative would use Sie (like Spielen Sie!), and an informal plural imperative drops the subject completely (like Spielt!).
What exactly does the word im stand for?
im is a short way of saying in dem (in the). When talking about a fixed location, German uses a grammatical form called the dative case. This changes the masculine 'the' from der to dem. So in + dem Kindergarten becomes im Kindergarten.
Is Kindergarten a plural word since it has Kinder (children) in it?
No, der Kindergarten is a singular noun. It literally translates to 'garden of children'. The gender of a combined word always comes from its last part (der Garten). If you wanted to talk about multiple kindergartens, the plural is die Kindergärten.
Why are both Kindergarten and Kinder capitalized?
In German, every single noun is capitalized, no matter where it appears in the sentence. Both Kindergarten (kindergarten) and Kinder (children) are nouns, so they always get a capital letter.
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