Breakdown of Die Bedingung des Friedens wurde in der ernsthaften Verhandlung diskutiert.
in
in
diskutieren
to discuss
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
werden
to be (passive auxiliary + past participle)
die Bedingung
the condition (prerequisite)
der Friede
the peace
ernsthaft
serious
die Verhandlung
the negotiation
Questions & Answers about Die Bedingung des Friedens wurde in der ernsthaften Verhandlung diskutiert.
Why does Friedens end in -ns here?
Frieden (peace) belongs to a special group of masculine nouns that use a mixed n-declension. Nouns in this group (like Name, Gedanke, and Glaube) take an -n or -en ending in most cases, but add an -ns in the genitive case. Since des Friedens means of the peace, it is in the genitive case and needs that -ns ending.
Why use wurde ... diskutiert instead of war ... diskutiert?
This sentence uses the passive voice to focus on the action being carried out, rather than who did it. In German, this process passive is formed using werden plus the past participle (diskutiert). Because this happened in the past, we use the simple past form of werden, which is wurde.
I thought Verhandlung was feminine. Why does it say in der Verhandlung?
You are correct that Verhandlung is feminine, like all nouns ending in -ung. However, the preposition in is a two-way preposition. Here it describes a static situation (the setting where the discussion happened), so it triggers the dative case. The dative form of the feminine article die changes to der.
Why does the adjective ernsthaft get an -en ending here?
Because we are in the dative case with the feminine article der already showing the grammatical gender and case, the adjective ernsthaft (serious) just needs the weak ending -en to become ernsthaften.
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