Breakdown of Je länger der Wartende am Schalter steht, desto wütender wird er.
er
he
lange
for a long time, long
stehen
to stand
an
at, on (vertical) / to (addressee) / of (in quantity/stock expressions)
werden
to become / to get (change of state)
wütend
angry
je
the (in proportional comparisons)
desto
the (second part of proportional comparisons)
der Wartende
the waiting person
der Schalter
the counter
Questions & Answers about Je länger der Wartende am Schalter steht, desto wütender wird er.
Why is 'the person waiting' translated as der Wartende?
This is a nominalized present participle, which is a verb turned into a noun to describe a person doing an action. It comes from the verb warten (to wait), which becomes the participle wartend (waiting). Because it acts like an adjective that has been turned into a noun, it takes standard adjective endings. Here it is the masculine singular subject following the definite article der, so it gets the weak ending -e.
If a woman were waiting, would the word change?
Yes! Because these nouns follow adjective ending rules, the gender changes the article. The weak ending for a feminine nominative noun is also -e, so a woman waiting would be die Wartende. If you were talking about multiple people waiting (plural), it would be die Wartenden.
Why are the verbs in different places in the two halves of the sentence (steht at the end, but wird in the middle)?
This sentence uses the two-part connector je ... desto ... (the ... the ...). The je half acts as a subordinate clause, which pushes the conjugated verb (steht) to the very end. The desto half acts as a main clause. The phrase desto wütender takes up the first position, so the verb (wird) must take position 2, immediately followed by the subject (er).
Why is it am Schalter (dative) and not an den Schalter (accusative)?
The word am is a contraction of an dem (dative). The preposition an is a two-way preposition. We use the dative case here because the person is stationary at the location, answering the question 'where?' (wo?). If the person were moving toward the counter, answering 'where to?' (wohin?), you would use the accusative form an den Schalter.
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