Breakdown of Zugunsten des Vereins gab es keinen Elfmeter.
kein
no, not any
es gibt
there is / there are
der Verein
the club
zugunsten
in favor of
der Elfmeter
the penalty kick
Questions & Answers about Zugunsten des Vereins gab es keinen Elfmeter.
Why is Verein in the genitive case here (des Vereins)?
The preposition zugunsten (meaning "in favor of" or "to the benefit of") requires the genitive case. Because Verein is masculine (der Verein), its article changes to des and it takes the typical -s ending to become des Vereins.
I sometimes see this preposition spelled as two words. Is zu Gunsten also correct?
Yes! Both zugunsten and zu Gunsten are completely correct. The one-word spelling is more common in modern everyday German, but you will often see it split into two words, especially in formal or legal texts.
How would I say "in my favor" using this structure instead of "in the club's favor"?
When referring to people via pronouns, you don't use a genitive pronoun. Instead, you must split the phrase and insert a possessive adjective: zu meinen Gunsten. For "in your favor", it would be zu deinen Gunsten, and so on.
Why is the word order gab es instead of es gab?
German has a strict "verb-second" rule for main clauses. Since the entire prepositional phrase Zugunsten des Vereins takes up the first position in the sentence, the conjugated verb gab must come immediately after it. This pushes the subject es into the third position.
Why is the word for penalty kick (Elfmeter) in the accusative case (keinen Elfmeter)?
The phrase es gibt (and its past tense es gab) translates as "there is" or "there was", but it literally means "it gives". Because of this, the thing that exists is grammatically treated as a direct object, which requires the accusative case. Since der Elfmeter is masculine, the negative article becomes keinen.
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