Breakdown of Das Leben eines fleißigen Zwillings ist extrem anstrengend.
sein
to be
ein
a, an (eine)
anstrengend
exhausting
das Leben
the life
der Zwilling
the twin
fleißig
diligent
extrem
extremely
Questions & Answers about Das Leben eines fleißigen Zwillings ist extrem anstrengend.
Why does Zwilling have an -s at the end to make Zwillings?
This is the genitive case, which indicates possession or association (the life of a diligent twin). Because Zwilling is a masculine noun (der Zwilling), it takes an -s ending in the genitive case. The article also changes to eines.
Why is the adjective ending -en in fleißigen?
In the genitive case, after the indefinite article eines, adjectives take the -en ending. Since the article eines already does the heavy lifting of showing the masculine genitive case, the adjective just takes this standard mixed ending.
anstrengend looks like a verb. How is it being used here?
It is a present participle functioning as an adjective. It comes from the separable verb sich anstrengen (to make an effort). In German, you can add -d to the infinitive of a verb to create an adjective describing an ongoing effect, so anstrengend translates to "exhausting" or "tiring".
Why is there no adjective ending on extrem?
In this sentence, extrem is functioning as an adverb modifying anstrengend (telling us how exhausting it is). In German, words acting as adverbs do not get any declension endings, unlike adjectives that are placed directly in front of nouns.
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