Breakdown of Das Hologramm zeigt etwas Interessantes.
etwas
something
zeigen
to show
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
das Hologramm
the hologram
interessant
interesting
Questions & Answers about Das Hologramm zeigt etwas Interessantes.
Why is Interessantes capitalized and ending in -es?
It is an adjective (interessant) that has been turned into a noun (nominalized) because it comes directly after the indefinite pronoun etwas (something). All nouns in German are capitalized. It gets the strong neuter accusative ending -es because etwas does not provide a grammatical ending itself.
What case is etwas Interessantes in this sentence?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb zeigt (shows). For neuter words, the nominative and accusative forms are the same, which is why the adjective takes the neuter -es ending here.
Does this capitalization and ending rule apply to other words besides etwas?
Yes! You will see this exact same pattern after other indefinite pronouns that express an abstract amount, like nichts (nothing), viel (much), and wenig (little). For example, you might see nichts Interessantes (nothing interesting) or viel Neues (much that is new).
Could I just say Das Hologramm zeigt etwas interessant without the capital letter and ending?
No, that would be grammatically incorrect in German. When you mean "something interesting," the adjective must be treated as a noun and take an ending. If you just used the base word interessant, it would act as an adverb describing how the hologram shows something, rather than what it is showing.
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