Breakdown of Du hast mein Vertrauen zerstört.
du
you (informal singular)
haben
to have
mein
my
zerstören
to destroy
Questions & Answers about Du hast mein Vertrauen zerstört.
Why does the past participle zerstört not have a ge- at the beginning?
Because verbs starting with the inseparable prefix zer- (just like the prefixes hinter- and wider- you are currently studying) do not take a ge- in their past participle form. The prefix remains attached to the stem, so it is just zerstört.
Does the prefix zer- have a specific semantic function here, similar to how hinter- or wider- change a verb's meaning?
Yes, the inseparable prefix zer- almost always adds the meaning of destruction, breaking into pieces, or dissolution to a root word. Here, it forms the core meaning of the verb zerstören (to destroy).
If I wanted to expand this sentence to say 'my trust in you', which preposition would I use with Vertrauen?
You would use the preposition in followed by the accusative case. For example, you could say mein Vertrauen in dich (my trust in you).
Why is the direct object written as mein Vertrauen instead of meinen or meines?
Vertrauen is a neuter noun (das Vertrauen). In the accusative case, the neuter possessive article is simply mein, which looks exactly like the nominative case. You would only use meinen for a masculine noun, and meines for the genitive case.