Questions & Answers about Wir wohnen im zweiten Stock.
Why do we use im here instead of a word for "on"?
In English, you live "on" a floor, but in German, you live "in" a floor. Because the sentence describes a fixed location answering the question "where?" (and not a movement to a new location), the preposition in requires the dative case. The word im is just the contraction of in dem.
Why does the word for second (zweite) end in -n here?
The adjective zweite gets an -en ending because of the dative case. When any adjective comes after a dative definite article (like dem, which is hiding inside im), the adjective always takes the -en ending.
How can I tell the gender of Stock from this sentence?
Does zweiter Stock mean the same physical floor as "second floor" in English?
It depends on where you are from! In Germany (like in the UK), the street-level floor is the ground floor (das Erdgeschoss). The floor above it is the first floor (der erste Stock). This means the zweite Stock is the third level of the building, which corresponds to the "third floor" in American English.
Learn Wir wohnen im zweiten Stock and more in German
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free