Breakdown of Die Eröffnung von Minen ist selten lukrativ.
sein
to be
selten
rarely / rare
von
from, of / by (agent in passive clauses)
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
die Eröffnung
the opening
lukrativ
lucrative
die Mine
the mine (explosive, pit)
Questions & Answers about Die Eröffnung von Minen ist selten lukrativ.
Why do we use von Minen here instead of just the genitive case?
Because Minen is a bare plural (it stands alone with no article or adjective in front of it). In German, the genitive case must be visibly marked. Plural nouns don't take a genitive -s ending, so the genitive of a bare plural is "invisible." Whenever the genitive case can't be clearly marked, you are grammatically required to replace it with von + dative.
If von triggers the dative case, why isn't there an extra -n added to the plural noun Minen?
You are remembering the rule correctly: dative plural nouns usually get an extra -n ending. However, this only happens if the plural form doesn't already end in -n or -s. The standard plural of die Mine is die Minen. Since it already ends in -n, no extra letter is added.
If we were talking about "the opening of the mine" (singular, specific), would we still use von?
Usually, no. If you include a definite article, the genitive case becomes clearly visible again: die Eröffnung der Mine. While you might hear die Eröffnung von der Mine in very casual spoken German, the genitive is the standard, correct choice in writing when the article is present.
Could I say die Mineneröffnung instead of die Eröffnung von Minen?
Absolutely! German frequently uses compound nouns where English uses "of" phrases. Die Mineneröffnung is perfectly natural and grammatically correct. Using von Minen here is just an alternative way to express the exact same idea, and practicing it is helpful for when the noun phrase is too complex to turn into a single compound word.
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