Breakdown of Macht das schnelle Karussell den schreienden Kindern Spaß?
das Kind
the child
schnell
fast, quickly
Spaß machen
to be fun (something is fun for someone)
das Karussell
the carousel
schreien
to scream
Questions & Answers about Macht das schnelle Karussell den schreienden Kindern Spaß?
How do we form schreienden and why does it end in -en?
It is a Present Participle (Partizip I). You take the infinitive verb schreien (to scream) and add -d to get schreiend (screaming). Because it is used here as an adjective modifying a noun, it needs a grammatical ending. It follows the dative plural article den, so it takes the weak adjective ending -en.
Why does the sentence start with the verb Macht instead of a translation for "Is"?
In German, you do not say that something "is fun". Instead, you use the phrase Spaß machen (literally: to make fun). Because this is a yes/no question, the conjugated verb Macht moves to the very beginning of the sentence.
Why is den schreienden Kindern in the dative case?
The phrase Spaß machen takes a dative object to express to whom something is fun. The children are the ones receiving the fun, so the plural article changes to den and the noun Kinder gets the standard dative plural -n added to it.
Why does the adjective schnelle only get an -e ending?
das Karussell is a neuter noun in the nominative case because it is the subject of the sentence (the thing "making" the fun). After a definite article like das, the adjective takes the weak ending -e.
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