Breakdown of Das Update hat eine Unordnung verursacht.
ein
a, an (eine)
haben
to have
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
das Update
the update
verursachen
to cause
die Unordnung
the mess
Questions & Answers about Das Update hat eine Unordnung verursacht.
How does the prefix Un- work in the word Unordnung?
The prefix Un- is used to create the exact opposite of the base word. Here, the base noun is die Ordnung, which means "order" or "tidiness". By adding Un-, it becomes die Unordnung (disorder, untidiness, or a mess). It is a very productive prefix in German, meaning you can attach it to many nouns and adjectives to negate them.
Does adding Un- to the beginning change the gender of the noun?
No. A noun's gender is always determined by its core word or its suffix. Since die Ordnung is feminine (like all German nouns ending in -ung), die Unordnung stays feminine. That is why we use the feminine article eine in this sentence.
Why doesn't the past participle verursacht start with ge- like most past tense verbs?
The verb here is verursachen (to cause). It starts with the inseparable prefix ver-. Verbs with inseparable prefixes (like be-, ent-, er-, and ver-) do not take the ge- prefix when forming the past participle. They just keep their original prefix and add a -t at the end because it is a regular (weak) verb.
Why does the English loanword Update use the neuter article das?
When German borrows English words, the gender is often based on the German equivalent or the category of the word. English technology and computer terms very frequently take the neuter article das in German. Notice that it is also capitalized in the sentence, just like any native German noun.
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