Breakdown of Der Verlust eines großen Vermögens zerstört das Unternehmen.
ein
a, an (eine)
groß
big / tall
zerstören
to destroy
das Unternehmen
the company (enterprise)
Questions & Answers about Der Verlust eines großen Vermögens zerstört das Unternehmen.
Why does the adjective groß take the ending -en (großen) if Vermögen is a neuter noun?
In the Genitive case, after an indefinite article like eines, the following adjective always takes the ending -en. Since Vermögen is a neuter noun, its indefinite article in the Genitive is eines. The adjective groß then gets the standard Genitive -en ending, giving us eines großen Vermögens.
Why is there an -s at the end of Vermögens?
Das Vermögen is a neuter noun. In the Genitive case, most masculine and neuter nouns add an -s or -es to the end of the word to show possession (similar to the English apostrophe-s). Because Vermögen ends in an unstressed syllable (-en), it just adds an -s.
Could das Unternehmen be the subject here? How do we know what is destroying what?
We know Der Verlust (the loss) is the subject because it uses the Nominative masculine article der. If das Unternehmen were the subject, the loss would be the direct object, which would change the masculine article to the Accusative den Verlust. Since we have der Verlust, it must be the subject doing the destroying.
Does the prefix zer- in zerstört have a specific meaning?