Word
Der Pullover hat einen Fleck, aber er ist waschbar.
Meaning
The sweater has a stain, but it is washable.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Der Pullover hat einen Fleck, aber er ist waschbar.
sein
to be
ein
a, an (eine)
er
he
haben
to have
Questions & Answers about Der Pullover hat einen Fleck, aber er ist waschbar.
How exactly is the word waschbar formed and what does the -bar ending mean here?
The suffix -bar is added to a verb stem to show that something can be done to it (a passive possibility). Here, we take the verb waschen (to wash), drop the -en to get the stem wasch-, and add -bar. So waschbar translates perfectly to 'able to be washed' or 'washable'.
Why does the second half of the sentence use er to mean 'it'?
In German, pronouns must match the grammatical gender of the noun they replace. Since the word for sweater is masculine (der Pullover), you must use the masculine pronoun er to refer back to it, even though you are talking about an inanimate clothing item.
Why is it einen Fleck rather than ein Fleck?
The word der Fleck (the stain) is a masculine noun. Because it is the direct object receiving the action of the verb hat (has), it must be in the accusative case. For masculine nouns, the default indefinite article ein changes to einen in the accusative.
Doesn't the word aber usually push the verb to the end of the sentence?