Breakdown of Die Tante ist die Schwester von meiner Mutter.
sein
to be
mein
my
die Mutter
the mother
die Schwester
the sister
Questions & Answers about Die Tante ist die Schwester von meiner Mutter.
Why is it meiner Mutter instead of meine Mutter?
The preposition von (of/from) always requires the dative case. Because Mutter is a feminine noun, the possessive word meine changes its ending to an -r, becoming meiner in the dative case.
Could I say this without using von?
Yes! You can use the genitive case (the possessive case) instead of von + dative. You could say Die Tante ist die Schwester meiner Mutter. Both mean exactly the same thing, but using von is very common in everyday spoken German.
Why does the sentence say Die Tante instead of Eine Tante?
In German, it is very common to use the definite article (die, der, or das) when giving a definition or talking about a general category. While an English speaker would normally say "An aunt is...", German says "The aunt is...".
Why doesn't the verb ist make die Schwester take the accusative case?
The verb sein (to be) is a linking verb. It acts like an equals sign (=) between two things. Because the subject (Die Tante) is in the nominative case, the noun on the other side of the equation (die Schwester) must also stay in the nominative case.