Breakdown of Jener Diamant funkelt im Licht.
im
in the (used with months) / in the (contraction of in + dem)
das Licht
the light
jener
that (m)
der Diamant
the diamond
Questions & Answers about Jener Diamant funkelt im Licht.
Why use Jener here instead of just saying Der or Dieser?
Jener translates specifically to "that" or "that one over there," emphasizing physical distance or contrast. While everyday spoken German often just uses the definite article with vocal stress (Der Diamant) to mean "that diamond", jener is used in written, formal, or literary contexts to explicitly point out something further away.
Why does the word for "that" end in -er in this sentence?
The demonstrative pronoun jener takes the same hard endings as the definite articles (der, die, das). Because Diamant is a masculine noun acting as the subject of the sentence (nominative case), the base word jen- takes the masculine nominative ending -er.
Isn't Diamant an n-declension (weak) noun? Why doesn't it have an -en ending here?
You are right that Diamant is a weak masculine noun! However, n-declension nouns only add the -en or -n ending in the accusative, dative, and genitive cases. Since the diamond is the subject doing the sparkling (nominative case) in this sentence, it remains in its base form.
Why do we use the dative contraction im (in dem) instead of the accusative ins (in das) for the light?