Questions & Answers about Der Fremde sah die Spionin nicht.
Why does der Fremde end in -e if it's a noun?
Fremde is a nominalized adjective—an adjective (fremd, meaning 'strange' or 'foreign') acting as a noun to describe a person. Even though it is capitalized, it still takes adjective endings! Because it follows the masculine definite article der in the nominative case, it takes the standard weak ending -e.
How would you change this sentence to say 'The female stranger...'?
You would change the subject to Die Fremde. Since nominalized adjectives follow standard adjective declension rules, a feminine subject with the definite article die also takes the -e ending. The word looks exactly the same; only the article changes to show her gender.
Is die Spionin also a nominalized adjective?
No, Spionin is a regular noun. It is simply the feminine version of the noun der Spion (the male spy), created by adding the common suffix -in. Unlike Fremde, it does not change its endings depending on the article in front of it.
Why use sah instead of hat gesehen?
sah is the simple past (Präteritum) of sehen (to see). While you will mostly hear the spoken past (hat ... gesehen) in everyday conversation, the simple past is the standard tense for written narratives, like books, stories, or reports.
Why is nicht placed at the very end of the sentence?
In German, when you want to negate the entire action of the sentence (the fact that he saw her), nicht gets pushed to the end of the clause.
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