Word
Der Verletzte hat keine Lust zu sprechen.
Meaning
The injured one (m) has no desire to speak.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Der Verletzte hat keine Lust zu sprechen.
kein
no, not any
sprechen
to speak
Lust haben
to feel like (doing something)
verletzt
injured
Questions & Answers about Der Verletzte hat keine Lust zu sprechen.
Why does Verletzte end in -e here, and how do I know how to decline it?
Verletzte is a nominalized adjective (an adjective acting as a noun). Because it follows the masculine definite article der in the nominative case (as the subject of the sentence), it takes the standard weak adjective ending -e. If it were indefinite, like saying 'an injured man', it would be ein Verletzter, taking the strong -er ending to show the masculine gender.
How would this sentence change if the injured person were a woman?
It would become Die Verletzte hat keine Lust zu sprechen. The nominalized adjective takes the feminine nominative ending -e after the definite article die. Notice that the spelling of the noun itself stays exactly the same in this specific case, but the article changes to show the gender.
Why do we use zu sprechen at the end instead of just sprechen?
The phrase Lust haben (to have a desire or to feel like doing something) requires an infinitive clause with zu when you add an action verb to it. Just like in English, it translates literally as having 'no desire to speak.'
Why do we use keine instead of nicht to negate this sentence?
In German, you use kein (and its declensions) to negate nouns that either have an indefinite article or no article at all. Since the expression uses the bare noun Lust without an article, we must use keine Lust to say he 'doesn't feel like it' or has 'no desire'.