Word
Die Polizisten stabilisieren das Auto mithilfe der Passanten.
Meaning
The police officers stabilize the car with the help of the passersby.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Die Polizisten stabilisieren das Auto mithilfe der Passanten.
das Auto
the car
der Polizist
the police officer
mithilfe
with the help of
stabilisieren
to stabilize
Questions & Answers about Die Polizisten stabilisieren das Auto mithilfe der Passanten.
Why is mithilfe written as one word here, and what case does it take?
mithilfe (meaning "with the help of") is an advanced preposition that requires the genitive case. You will sometimes also see it written as two words: mit Hilfe. When written as one word, it functions as a standard genitive preposition, which is why it is followed by the genitive phrase der Passanten.
Passanten has an -en ending. How can we tell if it means one passerby or multiple?
You have to look at the article! Passant is a masculine "weak noun" (it follows n-declension rules), meaning it adds an -en in almost all cases, singular and plural. If it were just one passerby, the genitive article would be masculine: des Passanten. Because the article is der, it must be the plural genitive ("of the passersby").
Could I just use mit instead of mithilfe?
Grammatically, you could say mit den Passanten (using the dative case), but it changes the nuance. mit makes it sound like the police and the passersby are just acting together. mithilfe specifically emphasizes that the passersby are the means or assistance used to accomplish the goal.
Does stabilisieren follow normal verb conjugation rules?