Word
Hast du irgendwelche staubigen Kartons gesehen?
Meaning
Have you seen any dusty cardboard boxes?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Hast du irgendwelche staubigen Kartons gesehen?
du
you (informal singular)
haben
to have
sehen
to see
staubig
dusty
Questions & Answers about Hast du irgendwelche staubigen Kartons gesehen?
Why do we use irgendwelche instead of irgendeine in this sentence?
The prefix irgend- means 'any' or 'some non-specific'. When talking about a countable singular noun, you combine it with ein- (like irgendein Karton for 'any box'). Because Kartons is plural, we must use welch- as the base instead, giving us irgendwelche.
Why does irgendwelch- get the ending -e here?
The phrase irgendwelche staubigen Kartons is the direct object of the verb gesehen (seen), meaning it is in the accusative case. For plural nouns in the accusative, irgendwelch- takes the ending -e, exactly like the plural definite article die.
Why does the adjective staubigen end in -en? Shouldn't plural accusative adjectives usually end in -e?
If there were no determiner before it, you would indeed use the strong ending -e (for example: staubige Kartons). However, irgendwelche acts like a plural definite article. After plural determiners like alle, diese, and irgendwelche, adjectives take the 'weak' ending, which is always -en in the plural.
How does the suffix -ig work in the word staubigen?