Breakdown of Die wilde Achterbahn ist nichts für weinende Kinder.
sein
to be
das Kind
the child
für
for
nichts
nothing
weinen
to cry
wild
wild
die Achterbahn
the roller coaster
Questions & Answers about Die wilde Achterbahn ist nichts für weinende Kinder.
How do we form the word weinende in this sentence?
It comes from the verb weinen (to cry). To make a present participle (Partizip I), you add a -d to the infinitive, making weinend (crying). Because it is used as an adjective describing a noun, it then gets an adjective ending, which is -e in this case.
Why does the participle weinend get an -e ending here instead of -en?
Present participles follow the exact same ending rules as normal adjectives. Here, Kinder is plural and in the accusative case because it follows the preposition für. Since there is no article like die or meine before the noun, the adjective takes the strong ending for the accusative plural, which is -e.
Could I use nicht instead of nichts in this sentence?
You could say ist nicht für weinende Kinder, which simply means it is not for crying children. However, using nichts (nothing) forms a very common German idiom: ist nichts für means something is entirely unsuitable or not the right thing for someone.
Where does the word Achterbahn come from?
It literally means figure-eight track. It combines Acht (eight) with the suffix -er (used for things associated with a number) and Bahn (track or railway). Over time, this became the standard German word for any roller coaster!
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