Breakdown of Winkende Eltern stehen vor der schnellen Achterbahn.
schnell
fast, quickly
die Eltern
the parents
stehen
to stand
vor
in front of
winken
to wave
die Achterbahn
the roller coaster
Questions & Answers about Winkende Eltern stehen vor der schnellen Achterbahn.
How do we form winkende and why does it end in -e?
It is the Present Participle of the verb winken (to wave). You form it by adding -d to the infinitive to get the base winkend. Because it acts as an adjective describing the plural noun Eltern and there is no article before it, it takes the strong plural nominative ending -e.
Why does the sentence use der before schnellen Achterbahn if Achterbahn is a feminine noun?
The preposition vor is a two-way preposition. Here it describes a fixed location (where the parents are standing), so it requires the dative case. The feminine dative form for the article die is der.
Why does the adjective schnellen get an -en ending instead of an -e?
Because it is in the dative case. After a definite article like der in the dative case, the descriptive adjective always takes the weak ending -en.
Does the word Achterbahn have something to do with the number eight (acht)?
Yes! It literally means figure-eight track. Early roller coasters were often built in the shape of an eight, and the name stuck for all roller coasters in German.
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