Word
Der Philosoph vergleicht den Egoismus und den Altruismus.
Meaning
The philosopher compares egoism and altruism.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Der Philosoph vergleicht den Egoismus und den Altruismus.
und
and
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
vergleichen
to compare
der Philosoph
the philosopher
Questions & Answers about Der Philosoph vergleicht den Egoismus und den Altruismus.
Why do we use den before Egoismus and Altruismus when the English translation has no articles?
In German, abstract nouns and broad philosophical concepts (like Egoismus, Altruismus, Liebe, or Zeit) usually take a definite article. While English drops the article when speaking generally about these concepts, German requires it.
Are all nouns ending in -ismus masculine?
Yes! Any German noun ending in -ismus is always masculine (der). In this sentence, they are in the accusative case (den) because they are the direct objects of the verb vergleichen. Knowing their gender is crucial when you need to refer back to them using reference pronouns.
If I want to follow up this sentence by referring to 'the former' and 'the latter', how do I choose the right endings?
Because both Egoismus and Altruismus are masculine, your reference pronouns must reflect that masculine gender, as well as their new grammatical role. If they become the subjects of your next sentence, you would use the masculine nominative forms: Ersterer (the former) and letzterer (the latter). If they are direct objects in the next sentence, you would use the accusative forms: ersteren and letzteren.