Word
Laut dieser Quelle sinkt der Anteil der Kinder.
Meaning
According to this source, the proportion of children is decreasing.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Laut dieser Quelle sinkt der Anteil der Kinder.
das Kind
the child
dieser
this / that (fem.: diese, neut.: dieses)
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
sinken
to fall / to sink (go under water)
Questions & Answers about Laut dieser Quelle sinkt der Anteil der Kinder.
Is dieser Quelle in the dative or genitive case here?
It can actually be either! The preposition laut (according to) can take either the dative or the genitive case. For feminine nouns like die Quelle (the source), the dative and genitive forms are identical (using der or dieser). In modern German, the dative is generally more common in everyday speech, while the genitive is often preferred in formal writing.
Why does the verb sinkt come before the subject der Anteil?
This is due to the strict verb-second rule in German main clauses. Because the prepositional phrase Laut dieser Quelle occupies the entire first position in the sentence, the conjugated verb sinkt must take the second position. This pushes the subject (der Anteil) to the third position, right after the verb.
Why does the sentence use der Kinder instead of die Kinder?
This is the genitive case, which shows possession or belonging (meaning "of the children"). For all plural nouns in the genitive case, the definite article die changes to der. Therefore, der Anteil der Kinder translates precisely to "the proportion of the children".
Could I use der Teil instead of der Anteil here?