Question 1

Why does the adjective langen end in -en? Shouldn't it take the feminine Genitive ending -er?

Accepted Answer

Because the indefinite article einer already does the heavy lifting! It shows the feminine Genitive case with its -er ending. When the article already clearly shows the case, the adjective that follows it simply takes the weak -en ending. In fact, after any indefinite, possessive, or negative article in the Genitive case, the adjective will always end in -en.

Question 2

Why is this sentence using the Genitive case in the first place?

Accepted Answer

The preposition trotz (meaning "despite") requires the noun phrase that follows it to be in the Genitive case. Note: In casual spoken German, you might sometimes hear people use the Dative case with trotz, but the Genitive is the correct standard form you are learning here.

Question 3

Why does the verb verkaufen come before the subject sie?

Accepted Answer

German has a strict "verb-second" rule for main clauses. The entire phrase Trotz einer langen Tradition counts as a single block of information occupying position one. Therefore, the verb verkaufen must immediately follow it to stay in position two, which pushes the subject sie into position three.

Question 4

Is there an easy way to remember the gender of Tradition?

Accepted Answer

Yes! Nouns that end in -ion (like die Tradition, die Situation, die Information) are almost always feminine. Knowing this makes it easy to figure out that you need the feminine Genitive article einer instead of the masculine/neuter eines.

Trotz einer langen Tradition verkaufen sie den Betrieb.

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