Breakdown of 1928 hat eine Pilotin den Atlantik überquert.
ein
a, an (eine)
haben
to have
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
die Pilotin
the pilot (f)
der Atlantik
the Atlantic
überqueren
to cross
Questions & Answers about 1928 hat eine Pilotin den Atlantik überquert.
Why is there no word for "in" before 1928?
In German, you cannot use the preposition in directly before a year like you do in English. You must either state the year completely by itself, as seen here with 1928, or use the phrase im Jahr before it (im Jahr 1928).
Why does hat come right after 1928 instead of the subject eine Pilotin?
This is the standard V2 (verb second) rule in German. Because the time expression 1928 takes up the first position in the sentence, the conjugated verb hat must stay in the second position. That forces the subject eine Pilotin into the third position.
Why doesn't the past participle überquert have a ge- at the beginning?
The verb überqueren (to cross) has an inseparable prefix (über-). Verbs with inseparable prefixes do not add ge- when forming the past participle, which is why it is simply überquert rather than übergequert.
Why is it den Atlantik rather than der Atlantik?
The Atlantic Ocean (der Atlantik) is the direct object of the sentence, receiving the action of being crossed. Therefore, the masculine definite article der changes to the accusative form den.
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