Breakdown of Eine Fremde gab dem Spion den neuen Auftrag.
ein
a, an (eine)
neu
new
geben
to give
der Spion
the spy (m)
Questions & Answers about Eine Fremde gab dem Spion den neuen Auftrag.
How do we know from Eine Fremde that the stranger is a woman?
Fremde is a nominalized adjective, meaning it is the adjective fremd turned into a noun. Even though it is capitalized, it still takes standard adjective endings. After the feminine article eine in the nominative case, the ending is -e, giving us Eine Fremde. If the stranger were a man, it would be Ein Fremder because the masculine nominative ending after ein is -er.
Why does the dative object dem Spion come before the accusative object den neuen Auftrag?
The verb geben needs a receiver in the dative case and a thing being given in the accusative case. When both of these objects are regular nouns, German word order almost always places the dative object before the accusative object. You can think of the literal word order here as gave to the spy the new mission.
Why does the adjective neu become neuen here?
It is describing the direct object of the sentence, Auftrag (mission), which is a masculine noun in the accusative case. Because it follows the definite article den, the adjective must take the weak ending -en.
Is gab the normal way to say gave in everyday conversation?