Breakdown of Der Reisende wartet darauf, dass der Schalter öffnet.
öffnen
to open
dass
that
warten auf
to wait for
darauf
on it
der Reisende
the traveler
der Schalter
the counter
Questions & Answers about Der Reisende wartet darauf, dass der Schalter öffnet.
Why does the word for traveler have an "-e" at the end in der Reisende?
Reisende is a nominalized present participle, which is a verb turned into an adjective, then used as a noun. It comes from reisen (to travel) and reisend (traveling). Because it still acts like an adjective grammatically, its ending changes depending on the article in front of it. Here, after the definite masculine article der in the nominative case, it takes the weak ending -e.
How would the word for traveler change if the sentence started with "A traveler" instead of "The traveler"?
Because nominalized participles follow adjective ending rules, the word needs the strong masculine ending -er when used with the indefinite article ein. So, "A traveler is waiting" would be Ein Reisender wartet.
Why do we need the word darauf here?
In German, you wait "on" something: warten auf. When you are waiting for a whole action to happen—expressed here by the dass clause—you cannot just put auf directly next to dass. Instead, you use the da-word darauf as a placeholder in the main clause. It translates literally as "waits for it, that...".
Why does öffnet come at the very end of the sentence?
The word dass (that) introduces a subordinate clause. A major rule in German is that in a subordinate clause, the conjugated verb gets kicked to the very end. That is why öffnet comes after its subject, der Schalter.
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