Breakdown of Niemand anderes als ein Kaiser genügt ihr.
ein
a, an (eine)
sie
she
niemand anderes als
nobody else but
der Kaiser
the emperor
genügen
to suffice
Questions & Answers about Niemand anderes als ein Kaiser genügt ihr.
Why is it niemand anderes and not niemand anderer, since it refers to a person?
Even though niemand (nobody) refers to people, German often treats general unknown persons as grammatically neuter in fixed phrases. So anderes takes the neuter ending -es. You will also hear niemand anderer, which is also correct and uses the masculine ending, but niemand anderes is widely used as a set phrase.
Why is ein Kaiser in the nominative case here?
The phrase niemand anderes als behaves like a comparison. The noun following als (but/than) must take the same case as the word it is being compared to. Here, ein Kaiser is compared to niemand, which is the subject of the sentence and therefore in the nominative case.
Why is the pronoun ihr used instead of sie at the end of the sentence?
The verb genügen (to suffice or to be enough) requires a dative object to show who something is enough for. ihr is the dative form of sie (her).
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