Breakdown of Der König hat der Truppe der Armee einen Befehl gegeben.
ein
a, an (eine)
haben
to have
geben
to give
der König
the king
die Armee
the army
die Truppe
the troop
der Befehl
the order
Questions & Answers about Der König hat der Truppe der Armee einen Befehl gegeben.
Why does it say der Truppe der Armee when both nouns are usually feminine (die)?
They are in different cases! The verb geben requires a dative indirect object, making it der Truppe. The army is possessing the troop, so der Armee (of the army) is in the genitive case. For feminine nouns, both the dative and genitive definite articles happen to be der.
Why does der Truppe der Armee come before einen Befehl?
This is the standard German word order for noun objects. When a sentence has both a dative indirect object (the receiver: der Truppe) and an accusative direct object (the thing given: einen Befehl), the dative noun comes before the accusative noun.
Could I say der Truppe von der Armee instead of using the genitive here?
Is einen Befehl geben a fixed phrase, or can I just use a single verb for 'to command'?
You can absolutely use the verb befehlen (to command). The sentence would then be: Der König hat der Truppe der Armee befohlen. Using the noun-verb combination einen Befehl geben (or the slightly more formal einen Befehl erteilen) is just a stylistic choice that puts more emphasis on the noun.
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