Breakdown of Ich habe dem Herrn den Gin mit Eiswürfeln serviert.
ich
I
haben
to have
mit
with
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
der Herr
the gentleman / Mr.
servieren
to serve
der Eiswürfel
the ice cube
der Gin
the gin
Questions & Answers about Ich habe dem Herrn den Gin mit Eiswürfeln serviert.
How would I add the particle schlechthin to this sentence to mean I served him the ultimate gin?
You place it immediately after the noun it emphasizes. To say 'the ultimate gin', you would change the sentence to: Ich habe dem Herrn den Gin schlechthin mit Eiswürfeln serviert.
Why is the word for gentleman written as Herrn instead of Herr?
Herr belongs to a special group of masculine nouns that follow N-declension (often called weak nouns). This means it takes an -n ending in all cases except the nominative singular. Because it is the dative indirect object here, it becomes Herrn.
Why does Eiswürfeln end in an -n if the standard dictionary plural is just Eiswürfel?
The preposition mit always forces the following noun into the dative case. In German, dative plural nouns must add an extra -n to their ending unless their plural form already ends in -n or -s.
Could I switch the order of the objects and say den Gin dem Herrn?
While grammatically possible, the standard word order when dealing with two regular noun objects is dative before accusative. So the indirect receiver (dem Herrn) comes before the direct object (den Gin). Switching them places special, contrastive emphasis on dem Herrn, which usually sounds unnatural without further context.
Learn Ich habe dem Herrn den Gin mit Eiswürfeln serviert and more in German
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free