Breakdown of Niemand ist da, ich bin allein.
ich
I
sein
to be
da
there
niemand
no one
allein
alone, on one's own
Questions & Answers about Niemand ist da, ich bin allein.
Why does niemand take the singular verb ist?
Just like "nobody" in English, the German pronoun niemand is treated as a single person grammatically. Because it represents a singular subject, it takes the third-person singular verb form ist.
Does niemand ever change its ending?
Yes. In this sentence, niemand is the subject, so it is in the nominative case and has no extra ending. If it were receiving the action as a direct object (accusative case), it would become niemanden, and for an indirect object (dative case), it would be niemandem.
What is the opposite of niemand?
The opposite is jemand (somebody or someone). Just like niemand, it takes a singular verb and can change its ending depending on its grammatical case, such as jemanden in the accusative case.
Doesn't da mean "there"? Why is it translated as "here"?
While da literally translates to "there", Germans use it constantly in everyday speech to mean "here" or "present" in a location. Saying Niemand ist da is the most natural way to express "Nobody is around" or "Nobody is here".
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