Breakdown of Lukas' Trikot stinkt, weil er es nie wäscht.
er
he
es
it
nie
never
waschen
to wash
weil
because (subordinating)
Lukas
Lukas
das Trikot
the jersey
stinken
to stink
Questions & Answers about Lukas' Trikot stinkt, weil er es nie wäscht.
Why is there an apostrophe after Lukas' instead of adding an s like we often do in English (Lukas's)?
In German, proper names usually just take an -s to show possession (like Annas Trikot). However, if the name already ends in an s-sound (like -s, -ß, -x, or -z), adding another -s would be awkward to pronounce. Instead of adding an extra letter, German simply adds an apostrophe at the very end. So Lukas becomes Lukas'.
Since you can't hear the apostrophe when speaking, how do people know it means 'Lukas's' and not just 'Lukas'?
In spoken German, Lukas' Trikot sounds exactly like Lukas Trikot, which can sometimes be ambiguous. Because of this, it is extremely common in everyday speech to avoid the genitive entirely and use von with the dative case instead: das Trikot von Lukas.
Why do we use the pronoun es here for 'it'?
The pronoun refers back to the noun Trikot (jersey). Because it is das Trikot (a neuter noun), you must use the neuter pronoun es to replace it as the direct object. If the noun were masculine, like der Pullover, you would have to use ihn.
A quick refresher: why is there an umlaut in wäscht?
Waschen (to wash) is a strong verb that undergoes a stem-vowel change in the present tense. For the du (you) and er/sie/es (he/she/it) forms, the a shifts to an ä. It's a great one to double-check, as it's easy for learners to accidentally say er wascht instead of the correct er wäscht!
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