Breakdown of Der Fechter war sich der Gefahr des Gefechts bewusst.
sein
to be
sich
oneself / himself / herself / themselves (reflexive pronoun)
die Gefahr
the danger
bewusst
aware
der Fechter
the fencer
das Gefecht
the bout
Questions & Answers about Der Fechter war sich der Gefahr des Gefechts bewusst.
Why is der Gefahr used here? Is it dative?
It is actually genitive! The expression for being aware of something is sich einer Sache bewusst sein. The adjective bewusst is one of a special group of adjectives in German that require a genitive object to state what is being perceived or felt.
Is the reflexive pronoun sich in the accusative or dative case here?
It is in the dative case. The full grammatical structure is sich (dative) einer Sache (genitive) bewusst sein. You can see this more clearly if you use the first person: Ich war mir der Gefahr bewusst (I was aware of the danger). For the third-person subject der Fechter, the dative pronoun is simply sich.
Why are there two genitives right next to each other (der Gefahr des Gefechts)?
They are both in the genitive case, but for entirely different reasons. The first part, der Gefahr, is required by the adjective bewusst. The second part, des Gefechts, is a standard possessive genitive telling us whose danger it is (the danger of the bout). Stacking genitives like this is a very common pattern in higher-level written German.
The words Fechter and Gefechts look very similar. Are they related?
Yes, they share the exact same root! They both come from the verb fechten, which means to fence or to fight. Der Fechter is the person doing the action (the fencer), and das Gefecht is the noun for the action itself (the bout, combat, or skirmish). The prefix Ge- is frequently used in German to create nouns representing an action out of verbs.
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