Breakdown of Der Journalist beschuldigt den Minister des Betrugs.
der Journalist
the journalist (male)
der Minister
the minister
beschuldigen
to accuse
der Betrug
the fraud
Questions & Answers about Der Journalist beschuldigt den Minister des Betrugs.
Why is des Betrugs in the genitive case instead of using a preposition like von?
The verb beschuldigen (to accuse) belongs to a specific group of verbs that strictly govern the genitive case. While English uses the preposition 'of' (accuse of fraud), German expresses the crime or offense directly with a genitive object (des Betrugs), using no preposition at all.
What case is the person being accused (den Minister) in?
The person being accused is the direct object, so it takes the accusative case (den Minister). The complete pattern for this verb is jemanden (accusative person) einer Sache (genitive thing) beschuldigen.
Since Journalist is an n-declension (weak) noun, why doesn't it have an -en ending here?
Weak nouns only take the extra -en ending in cases other than the nominative. Because der Journalist is the subject of the sentence, it is in the nominative case and stays in its base form. If the journalist were the one being accused, it would be den Journalisten.
Could I add an -e- and write des Betruges?