Breakdown of Der Ritter schlug den Drachen mit dem Schwert.
mit
with
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
der Ritter
the knight
das Schwert
the sword
Questions & Answers about Der Ritter schlug den Drachen mit dem Schwert.
What is the infinitive of schlug, and how does its vowel change?
schlug is the simple past tense (Präteritum) of the irregular verb schlagen (to hit or strike). Like many strong verbs, its stem vowel changes in the past tense, here shifting from a to u.
Why is the word Drachen used here if there is only one dragon?
Der Drache belongs to a special group of masculine words called weak nouns (or n-declension nouns). This means it adds an -n to the end in every case except the nominative (the subject). Because the dragon is the direct object (accusative case) being hit, it becomes den Drachen.
Why use the simple past (schlug) here instead of the spoken past (hat geschlagen)?
The simple past (Präteritum) is the standard tense for written storytelling, literature, and fairy tales. Since a sentence about a knight and a dragon sounds like it comes from a fantasy book, the written past tense is the most natural choice.
Why does the sentence say mit dem Schwert instead of mit das Schwert?
The preposition mit always requires the dative case. Since sword is a neuter noun (das Schwert), the article changes from das to dem in the dative.