Word
Wir sehen den Tätowierer arbeiten.
Meaning
We see the tattoo artist working.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Wir sehen den Tätowierer arbeiten.
arbeiten
to work
wir
we
sehen
to see
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
Questions & Answers about Wir sehen den Tätowierer arbeiten.
Why is arbeiten in the infinitive here, instead of using zu?
Because sehen is a perception verb (a verb of the senses, like seeing or hearing). In German, perception verbs act a lot like modal verbs. They take a second verb as a bare infinitive pushed to the very end of the sentence, completely dropping the zu.
The English translation says 'working'. Why doesn't German use an '-ing' equivalent like arbeitend?
English often uses '-ing' words after verbs of perception to show an action is happening right now. German almost never uses its equivalent forms this way. Instead, the simple combination of the perception verb (sehen) and the bare infinitive (arbeiten) perfectly translates the idea of watching an ongoing action.
Why is it den Tätowierer and not der Tätowierer?
Even though the tattoo artist is the one doing the working, he is the direct object of the main verb sehen (we are seeing him). Because of this, the masculine noun Tätowierer must take the accusative case, changing der to den.
If I wanted to add more details, like 'in the studio', where would the words go?
Just like in sentences with modal verbs, the bare infinitive (arbeiten) acts as an anchor and must stay at the very end of the clause. You would put the extra information right before it: Wir sehen den Tätowierer im Studio arbeiten.