Word
Der Hund wartete brav auf das Kind.
Meaning
The dog waited obediently for the child.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Der Hund wartete brav auf das Kind.
das Kind
the child
der Hund
the dog
warten auf
to wait for
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
Questions & Answers about Der Hund wartete brav auf das Kind.
Why does wartete have an extra e before the past tense ending?
wartete is the simple past (Präteritum) of the regular verb warten (to wait). Because the verb stem (wart-) ends in a t, an extra e is added before the past tense ending -te to make it easier to pronounce. This makes it wart-e-te instead of the awkward-sounding wartte. You will see this with any regular verb stem ending in t or d.
Why use auf to mean for instead of für?
In German, waiting for something is always expressed with the fixed verb and preposition combination warten auf. Using für here would sound wrong to a native speaker, so it is best to memorize the pair together as warten auf.
Is das Kind in the accusative or dative case here?
It is in the accusative case. Although auf is a two-way preposition (meaning it can sometimes take the dative case to show location), when it is used as a fixed pair with a verb like warten, it always forces the accusative case.
Is brav a false friend?
Yes! It looks like the English word brave, but it actually means well-behaved, good, or obedient. It is very commonly used for pets and children. If you wanted to say the dog was courageous, you would use a word like mutig.