Breakdown of Der Barkeeper mischt den Cocktail im Shaker mit Eiswürfeln.
mit
with
im
in the (used with months) / in the (contraction of in + dem)
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
mischen
to shuffle / to mix
der Barkeeper
the bartender
der Cocktail
the cocktail
der Shaker
the shaker
der Eiswürfel
the ice cube
Questions & Answers about Der Barkeeper mischt den Cocktail im Shaker mit Eiswürfeln.
How could we use the current lesson's particle, schlechthin, to say he is mixing the ultimate cocktail?
You place schlechthin directly after the noun you want to elevate. To say "The bartender is mixing the cocktail of all cocktails" (the ultimate cocktail), you would say: Der Barkeeper mischt den Cocktail schlechthin im Shaker mit Eiswürfeln.
Why is it Eiswürfeln instead of the regular plural Eiswürfel?
The preposition mit always forces the dative case. The regular plural of der Eiswürfel (the ice cube) is indeed die Eiswürfel. However, in the dative plural case, German nouns almost always take an extra -n at the end (unless the plural already ends in -n or -s). Therefore, it becomes mit Eiswürfeln.
There are three English loanwords in this sentence (Barkeeper, Cocktail, Shaker). How do we know they are all masculine?
English loanwords often adopt the gender of their German equivalent or follow German suffix patterns. Both Barkeeper and Shaker end in -er, which is a highly reliable masculine ending for people or tools performing an action. Cocktail is masculine likely by association with other alcoholic mixed drinks, which are predominantly masculine in German.
Could I say in dem Shaker instead of contracting it to im Shaker?
Grammatically yes, but it changes the nuance. In most everyday contexts, contracting in dem to im is standard and sounds much more natural. You would only separate them into in dem Shaker if you wanted to strongly point out that specific shaker (e.g., "in that shaker, not the other one").
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