Breakdown of Der Prinz fand das Schwert im Wald nicht.
finden
to find
nicht
not
im
in the (used with months) / in the (contraction of in + dem)
der Wald
the forest
Questions & Answers about Der Prinz fand das Schwert im Wald nicht.
Why is the past tense of finden just fand and not findete?
finden is a strong (irregular) verb. Instead of adding a -te ending like regular verbs do in the simple past (Präteritum), strong verbs change their stem vowel. Here, the i in finden changes to a, making it fand for the third-person singular (er/sie/es).
In English it says 'did not find', but there is no word for 'did' in the German sentence. Why?
English uses the helper verb 'did' to form negatives and questions in the past tense. German does not do this! You just use the past tense of the main verb (fand) and add nicht. So 'did not find' is simply translated as fand ... nicht.
Why does nicht go at the very end of the sentence here?
When you negate an entire action or sentence (rather than one specific noun), nicht usually goes to the end of the clause. Here, it negates the whole idea that the action of finding took place in that location.
Why is it im Wald (dative) instead of in den Wald (accusative)?
in is a two-way preposition. Because the prince is looking around inside a fixed location (the forest) rather than moving into it from the outside, it takes the dative case. im is short for in dem.