Breakdown of Der Prinz warf den Ring und die Königin fing ihn.
und
and
ihn
him
werfen
to throw
der Ring
the ring
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
die Königin
the queen
der Prinz
the prince
fangen
to catch
Questions & Answers about Der Prinz warf den Ring und die Königin fing ihn.
How do we get the past tense warf?
warf is the simple past (Präteritum) of the irregular verb werfen (to throw). Like many strong verbs, it changes its stem vowel in the past tense, going from 'e' to 'a'. Because it is in the third-person singular, it takes no extra ending.
What is the infinitive form of fing?
fing comes from the irregular verb fangen (to catch). Here, the stem vowel changes from 'a' to 'i' for the simple past tense. Just like warf, the third-person singular form has no additional ending after the changed stem.
Why does the sentence use ihn instead of es for 'it'?
In English, we use 'it' for inanimate objects, but German pronouns must match the grammatical gender of the noun they replace. The queen caught the ring (der Ring), which is masculine. Because it is the direct object being caught, it takes the masculine accusative pronoun ihn.
Why doesn't the verb fing go to the end of the sentence after und?
The word und is a coordinating conjunction, which means it acts as a bridge and takes 'position zero' in the clause. The second half of the sentence restarts as a brand new main clause: the subject die Königin is in position 1, and the verb fing takes the normal position 2.
Learn Der Prinz warf den Ring und die Königin fing ihn 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