Word
Wer öffnet dem Mädchen den Reißverschluss?
Meaning
Who opens the girl's zipper?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Wer öffnet dem Mädchen den Reißverschluss?
das Mädchen
the girl
wer
who
öffnen
to open
der Reißverschluss
the zipper
Questions & Answers about Wer öffnet dem Mädchen den Reißverschluss?
Why does the German sentence use dem Mädchen den instead of ihren (her)?
This is the possessive dative (Dativus possessivus). When talking about actions done to someone's body parts or clothing, German typically uses the dative case for the person experiencing the action (dem Mädchen) and a simple definite article for the item (den Reißverschluss). Saying ihren Reißverschluss is grammatically possible but sounds much less natural here.
Since Mädchen means girl, why is the article dem (masculine/neuter) and not der (feminine dative)?
All German words ending in the diminutive suffix -chen are neuter, regardless of their biological gender. Therefore, it is always das Mädchen. Because the possessive dative requires the dative case, the neuter article das changes to dem.
Why is it den Reißverschluss rather than der Reißverschluss?
Reißverschluss (zipper) is a masculine noun. In this sentence, it is the direct object being opened, so it must take the accusative case. For masculine nouns, the accusative article changes from der to den.
What is the subject of this sentence, and what case is it in?