Breakdown of Der Ritter nahm das Schwert.
nehmen
to take
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
der Ritter
the knight
das Schwert
the sword
Questions & Answers about Der Ritter nahm das Schwert.
What is the infinitive of nahm, and why does it have an a instead of an e?
The infinitive is nehmen (to take). It is a strong, or irregular, verb. Strong verbs change their main vowel in the simple past tense (Präteritum). Here, the e in nehmen changes to an a to become nahm.
Why doesn't nahm have a tense ending like -te or -t for the third person singular (the knight)?
In the simple past tense, strong verbs do not take an ending for the first person (ich) or the third person singular (er/sie/es). Because of this rule, both 'I took' and 'he took' are simply nahm without any extra letters at the end.
In normal conversation, would I say nahm or hat genommen?
You would usually say hat genommen (the spoken past, or Perfekt) in everyday conversation. The simple past form nahm is mostly used in written German, such as in novels, fairy tales about knights, or formal news reports.
Is das Schwert in the nominative or accusative case here?
It is in the accusative case because the sword is the direct object being taken. You cannot see a change from the dictionary form because neuter nouns use das for both the nominative (subject) and accusative (object) cases.