Breakdown of Wir müssen den Besten für den Auftrag auswählen.
gut
good / well
wir
we
müssen
to have to, must
für
for
der Auftrag
the mission
auswählen
to select
Questions & Answers about Wir müssen den Besten für den Auftrag auswählen.
How do we know "the best one" refers to a male here?
The article den shows us this is masculine. If we were looking for the best woman, it would be die Beste. When we turn an adjective into a noun to describe a person, we capitalize it and use the natural gender of the person.
Why does Besten end in -en here?
Even though it is capitalized and acting as a noun, Besten still follows normal adjective ending rules. It is the direct object of the sentence, so it is in the accusative case. A masculine adjective after the definite article den takes an -en ending.
Why is the prefix aus- still attached to the verb auswählen?
Because of the modal verb müssen (must). Modal verbs push the main verb to the very end of the sentence in its full, unseparated dictionary form (the infinitive). If there were no modal verb, it would separate (for example: Wir wählen den Besten aus.).
Why is it für den Auftrag?
The preposition für always forces the noun that follows it into the accusative case. Since Auftrag (mission or order) is a masculine noun (der Auftrag), it changes to den Auftrag.
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