Word
Den älteren Stamm erkennt man anhand der Rinde.
Meaning
One recognizes the older trunk by means of the bark.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Den älteren Stamm erkennt man anhand der Rinde.
alt
old
man
one / you (impersonal)
erkennen
to recognize / to realize
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
Questions & Answers about Den älteren Stamm erkennt man anhand der Rinde.
Why is it der Rinde if die Rinde is a feminine noun?
The preposition anhand means "on the basis of" or "by means of" and requires the genitive case. For feminine nouns like die Rinde (the bark), the definite article changes to der in the genitive. You will frequently see anhand used like this to introduce evidence or clues used to identify something.
Why does the sentence start with Den älteren Stamm instead of the subject man?
German often places the object in the first position to emphasize what is being talked about. Here, the masculine noun Stamm is the direct object being recognized, so it takes the accusative form Den älteren Stamm. To keep the verb erkennt in its strict second position, the subject man is pushed immediately after it.
Why does the comparative adjective älter have an -en ending here?
Because it is modifying a masculine noun in the accusative case (Stamm) and follows a definite article (Den), it must use a weak adjective ending. For the masculine accusative case, the weak ending is always -en, so it attaches directly to the comparative stem älter- to become älteren.
Why use erkennt instead of kennt or weiß?