Breakdown of Ein Aktionär könnte den Wert dreier Standorte berechnen.
ein
a, an (eine)
drei
three
können
can / to be able to
der Wert
the value
berechnen
to calculate
der Standort
the location (site)
der Aktionär
the shareholder
Questions & Answers about Ein Aktionär könnte den Wert dreier Standorte berechnen.
Why does the number drei change to dreier in this sentence?
It is in the genitive case, meaning the value of three locations. The cardinal numbers zwei and drei take the special genitive ending -er when they stand directly in front of a noun without an article or adjective to show the case.
Would I still use dreier if I wanted to say "the value of the three locations"?
Why is könnte used here instead of konnte?
könnte with an umlaut is the Konjunktiv II (Subjunctive II) form, meaning "could", which expresses a hypothetical possibility. konnte without the umlaut is the simple past tense (Präteritum) meaning "was able to".
Since Standorte looks just like the regular plural, how do we know it is genitive here?
The masculine noun der Standort forms its plural as die Standorte. Because nouns in the genitive plural do not get an extra -s ending, the noun itself doesn't change. We rely entirely on the declined number dreier to signal that the phrase is in the genitive case.
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