Breakdown of Der Sohn übernimmt den Betrieb seines kranken Vaters.
der Vater
the father
der Sohn
the son
sein
his
krank
sick
übernehmen
to take over
der Betrieb
the business
Questions & Answers about Der Sohn übernimmt den Betrieb seines kranken Vaters.
Why does the adjective kranken end in -en here?
In this sentence, seines kranken Vaters is in the Genitive case. When an adjective comes after a possessive article like seines in the Genitive case, it always takes the ending -en. This rule makes it easy to remember: in the Genitive case, any adjective following a possessive article will end in -en regardless of the noun's gender.
Why is the word for his written as seines instead of just sein?
The base word for his is sein. Because Vater is a masculine noun and the phrase is in the Genitive case to show possession, we have to add the masculine Genitive ending -es to the article, making it seines.
Why does Vaters have an -s at the end?
In the Genitive case, most masculine and neuter nouns get an extra -s or -es added to the end of the word. Since Vater is a masculine noun, it becomes Vaters. Feminine and plural nouns do not get this extra letter in the Genitive.
I thought verbs with über- were sometimes separable. Why isn't it Der Sohn nimmt den Betrieb über?
The prefix über- can be separable or inseparable depending on the verb. For übernehmen, which means to take over, it is inseparable. That means the prefix stays permanently attached to the verb in the present tense.
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