Word
Der Zeuge brachte die Waffe zur Polizei.
Meaning
The witness brought the weapon to the police.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Der Zeuge brachte die Waffe zur Polizei.
bringen
to bring
zur
to the (zu + der)
die Polizei
the police
der Zeuge
the witness
Questions & Answers about Der Zeuge brachte die Waffe zur Polizei.
Why is the verb brachte considered a "mixed" verb here?
Bringen (to bring) is a mixed verb because it mixes features of weak and strong verbs in the past tense. Like a strong verb, it changes its stem from bring- to brach-. However, like a weak regular verb, it adds the standard past tense ending -te to become brachte.
Zeuge ends in -e. Why is the article masculine (der)?
Zeuge (witness) is a masculine noun belonging to the n-declension (weak nouns) group, which mostly contains male people or animals. In the subject position (nominative), it is simply der Zeuge. In almost any other role in a sentence, it would take an extra -n and become Zeugen.
Why is it zur Polizei and not zu die Polizei?
The preposition zu always requires the dative case. Polizei is a feminine noun, so its article changes from die to der in the dative. The word zur is just a short, merged version of zu der.
Would a German speaker actually say brachte in everyday conversation?
Usually, Germans prefer the spoken past tense (Perfekt) in daily conversation, which would be: Der Zeuge hat die Waffe zur Polizei gebracht. However, the simple past brachte is still understood by everyone and is very common in written texts, news reports, and storytelling.