Breakdown of Schach gilt als ein Spiel für schlaue Leute.
ein
a, an (eine)
die Leute
the people
für
for
das Spiel
the game/match
schlau
smart
das Schach
the chess
gelten als
to be considered as
Questions & Answers about Schach gilt als ein Spiel für schlaue Leute.
Why is ein Spiel in the nominative case here instead of the accusative?
The phrase gelten als (to be considered as) acts like a copula verb, similar to sein (to be) or werden (to become). It logically equates the subject (Schach) with the noun phrase following als (ein Spiel). Because they refer to the same thing, they share the same case. Since the subject is nominative, ein Spiel must also be nominative.
Does the word als always trigger the nominative case?
Not automatically! The word als just copies the case of the noun it connects back to. Here, it connects to Schach (the subject, nominative). If we used a sentence where the reference noun was accusative—for example, equating a direct object to something else—the noun after als would also be in the accusative.
What is the infinitive of gilt, and what else can it mean?
The infinitive is gelten (an irregular verb: er gilt, er galt, er hat gegolten). Aside from the structure gelten als (to be regarded as) seen in this sentence, gelten on its own is very commonly used to mean "to be valid." For example, Das Ticket gilt nicht mehr means "The ticket is no longer valid."
Why does the adjective schlaue end in -e in the phrase für schlaue Leute?
The preposition für always requires the accusative case. Because there is no article (like "die" or "meine") in front of the plural noun Leute, the adjective has to do the heavy lifting to show the case (this is called strong declension). For accusative plural nouns with no article, the adjective ending is -e.
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