Das Unternehmen kam trotz der Krise nach Deutschland.
The company came to Germany despite the crisis.
Breakdown of Das Unternehmen kam trotz der Krise nach Deutschland.
Deutschland
Germany
kommen
to come
nach
to / towards
die Krise
the crisis
das Unternehmen
the company (enterprise)
trotz
despite
Questions & Answers about Das Unternehmen kam trotz der Krise nach Deutschland.
Why does it say der Krise when the word for crisis is feminine (die Krise)?
The preposition trotz (despite) requires the genitive case. In the genitive, the feminine article die changes to der. Therefore, die Krise becomes der Krise.
Wait, isn't der Krise also the dative form? How do we know this is genitive?
You are exactly right! For feminine nouns, the definite article becomes der in both the dative and the genitive cases, so they look identical. We know it is genitive here because standard written German requires trotz to take the genitive. (In casual spoken German, people sometimes use the dative after trotz, which conveniently looks exactly the same for this feminine word!)
If I want to emphasize 'despite the crisis', can I start the sentence with trotz der Krise?
Yes, you can absolutely say Trotz der Krise kam das Unternehmen nach Deutschland. Just remember the strict rule for German word order: the conjugated verb (kam) must stay in the second position. Moving the 'despite' phrase to position 1 pushes the subject (das Unternehmen) to position 3.
Why do we use nach for 'to Germany' instead of zu?
When traveling to a city, country, or continent that does not use a definite article (like Deutschland), you always use nach. You use zu mostly when going to a person or a specific local destination like a building.
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