Breakdown of Unsere Dokumentation zeigt ganz Afrika, ganz Skandinavien und halb Amerika.
und
and
unser
our
zeigen
to show
halb
half
ganz
quite, completely; whole
die Dokumentation
the documentary (film)
Afrika
Africa
Skandinavien
Scandinavia
Amerika
America
Questions & Answers about Unsere Dokumentation zeigt ganz Afrika, ganz Skandinavien und halb Amerika.
Why are ganz and halb not declined here? Shouldn't it be ganzes Afrika since continents are neuter?
This is the core exception for this lesson. When the adjectives ganz (whole/all) and halb (half) appear directly before a geographical name that doesn't use a definite article, they drop all declension endings. This applies to most cities, countries, and continents.
What if the documentary showed a country that uses an article, like Switzerland (die Schweiz)?
If the geographical name requires an article, this exception no longer applies and you must use standard adjective declension. For example, showing 'all of Switzerland' would translate to die ganze Schweiz, and 'all of the USA' would be die ganzen USA.
Why does the German sentence use ganz to mean 'all of' instead of a word like alle?
In German, when you want to express 'all of' a singular countable noun or a single geographic area, you use ganz (literally meaning 'the whole'). The word alle is reserved for plural nouns or general uncountable concepts, such as in alle Länder (all countries).
What case are Afrika, Skandinavien, and Amerika in here?
They are in the accusative case because they are the direct objects being shown by the verb zeigen. Even though the special rule for ganz and halb means you don't see a typical accusative adjective ending here, the grammatical case of the locations remains accusative.
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