Breakdown of Waren die Revolution und deren Anführer mächtiger als der König?
sein
to be
und
and
die Revolution
the revolution
der König
the king
als
than
mächtig
powerful
deren
their (referring back to something just mentioned)
der Anführer
the leader
Questions & Answers about Waren die Revolution und deren Anführer mächtiger als der König?
Why use deren instead of ihre for 'its'?
deren is a demonstrative possessive pronoun referring back to the feminine singular noun die Revolution. While ihre would also be grammatically correct here to mean 'its', using deren adds clarity and slight emphasis, pointing firmly back to the revolution. This is especially common in formal or written German.
Why is der König in the nominative case rather than the accusative?
The word als (than) in a comparison doesn't force a specific case. Instead, the noun following als takes the same case as the thing it's being compared to. Because the king is being compared to the subject (die Revolution und deren Anführer), which is in the nominative case, der König must also be in the nominative.
How do we know Anführer means 'leaders' (plural) rather than 'leader' (singular)?
Grammatically, you actually can't tell just from looking at this sentence! The noun der Anführer (the leader) doesn't change its spelling in the plural (die Anführer). Because the pronoun deren can mean 'its' before both singular and plural nouns, you have to rely on context to know it means multiple leaders here.
Why doesn't the comparative adjective mächtiger have a declension ending?
Adjectives only take declension endings when they come directly before a noun. Here, mächtiger is a predicate adjective used after the verb waren to describe the subject. Predicate adjectives and their comparative forms never take endings.
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