Breakdown of Das arme Tier war nach dem Unfall in Lebensgefahr.
sein
to be
in
in
das Tier
the animal
nach
after (in time)
der Unfall
the accident
arm
poor
die Lebensgefahr
the mortal danger
Questions & Answers about Das arme Tier war nach dem Unfall in Lebensgefahr.
Why does arme end in -e here instead of -es to show it's a neuter noun?
Because the definite article das already does the job of showing the gender and case (neuter nominative). When the article carries that information, the adjective takes the "weak" ending, which is just -e for singular nominative nouns. You would only use -es if there were no article at all, like in armes Tier (poor animal).
How is the compound word Lebensgefahr formed?
It is made by combining das Leben (life) and die Gefahr (danger). They are glued together with a linking -s-, which is very common in German compound nouns. As always, the gender of the compound word comes from the final noun, making it die Lebensgefahr.
If in is a two-way preposition, what case is Lebensgefahr in here?
It is in the dative case. Two-way prepositions take the dative when they describe a fixed state or location (answering "where?"), rather than a movement toward a target (answering "to where?"). Being in danger is a fixed state. Even though you don't see an article here, the underlying grammar requires the dative.
Why does the phrase nach dem Unfall come before in Lebensgefahr?
This follows the standard German word order rule often remembered as TeKaMoLo (Time, Cause, Manner, Place). Nach dem Unfall tells us the time/when, while in Lebensgefahr describes the state or metaphorical "place". In German, time elements almost always come before place or state elements.
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