Breakdown of Der private Zugang ist nur für den Präsidenten.
sein
to be
für
for
nur
only
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
der Präsident
the president
privat
private
der Zugang
the access
Questions & Answers about Der private Zugang ist nur für den Präsidenten.
Why is it Präsidenten and not just Präsident?
Präsident belongs to a special group of masculine words called n-nouns (or weak nouns). These nouns add an -n or -en to the end in every case except the nominative singular. Because it follows für here, it is in the accusative case, so it must be written as Präsidenten.
Why is the article den used instead of dem?
The preposition für is strictly an accusative preposition. It always forces the following noun into the accusative case. Since Präsident is masculine, the definite article must be den.
Why does the adjective private end in just an -e?
This is a standard adjective ending after a definite article. Zugang (access) is a masculine noun acting as the subject of the sentence, which means it is in the nominative case. After the nominative masculine article der, the adjective simply takes an -e ending.
Since our current lesson is about außer (except), how would I say the access is for everyone except the president?
You would use außer, which always requires the dative case. The phrase would be: für alle außer dem Präsidenten. The article changes to the dative dem, but Präsidenten keeps its -en ending because weak nouns use that exact same ending in the dative case too!
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