Breakdown of Die Soziologen diskutieren die Argumente des Aktivismus.
diskutieren
to discuss
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
der Soziologe
the sociologist
das Argument
the argument
der Aktivismus
the activism
Questions & Answers about Die Soziologen diskutieren die Argumente des Aktivismus.
Does the suffix in Argumente give a clue about its gender and plural form?
How do we know the gender and genitive ending for Aktivismus?
Words ending in the suffix -ismus are always masculine (der Aktivismus). Because the sentence says "of activism", it is in the genitive case, using the article des. A tricky detail for B2 learners: while masculine nouns in the genitive usually add an -s or -es, loanwords ending in -us (like -ismus) do not take an extra -s. The noun stays exactly the same: des Aktivismus.
Is Soziologen just a standard plural, or is there a specific rule for professions like this?
Words ending in the Greek suffix -loge (used for scholars, like der Soziologe or der Biologe) are always masculine and belong to the "weak nouns" group (also known as n-declension). This means they add an -n in all cases except the nominative singular. Here it is the nominative plural, so it becomes die Soziologen.
Why doesn't the sentence use diskutieren über?
You will often hear diskutieren über plus the accusative when people discuss a general topic. However, diskutieren can also take a direct accusative object without a preposition, just like the English "to discuss something". Using the direct object is often preferred when debating specific items or points, like die Argumente in this sentence.
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