Word
Ein fremder Mann hat die Alarmanlage ausgelöst.
Meaning
An unfamiliar man triggered the alarm system.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Ein fremder Mann hat die Alarmanlage ausgelöst.
ein
a, an (eine)
der Mann
the man
haben
to have
fremd
strange
Questions & Answers about Ein fremder Mann hat die Alarmanlage ausgelöst.
Since this lesson focuses on the modal particle etwa, how would I rewrite this sentence as a question to express disbelief?
You would invert the subject and conjugated verb to form a question and insert etwa. For example: Hat etwa ein fremder Mann die Alarmanlage ausgelöst? This translates to 'Did an unfamiliar man really trigger the alarm system?!' and adds a strong tone of surprise, concern, or negative expectation.
Why does fremder Mann translate to 'unfamiliar man' instead of 'foreign man'?
The adjective fremd can mean both 'foreign' (from another country) and 'unfamiliar', 'unknown', or 'strange'. In everyday contexts like a security breach or meeting someone new, it almost always means 'unfamiliar'. If you specifically meant someone from another country, context usually makes it clear, or you might use the noun der Ausländer.
I always second-guess adjective endings. Why does it have to be ein fremder Mann with an -er?
This is a great chance for a mixed declension refresher! Mann is a masculine noun in the nominative case because it is the subject of the sentence. Since the indefinite article ein has no ending here to indicate the masculine gender, the adjective has to do the heavy lifting and take the strong ending -er.
Is auslösen the standard verb for setting off an alarm?