Breakdown of Auf dieser Station arbeiten zehn Ärzte.
arbeiten
to work
zehn
ten
dieser
this / that (fem.: diese, neut.: dieses)
der Arzt
the doctor
auf
on / to (down/up to a level)
die Station
the ward
Questions & Answers about Auf dieser Station arbeiten zehn Ärzte.
Why do we use auf instead of in for a hospital ward?
In German, certain locations take specific prepositions that you simply have to memorize. For a hospital ward (die Station), German always uses auf to say that someone works 'on' or is a patient 'in' the ward.
Station is a feminine word, so why does it say dieser instead of diese?
The preposition auf is a two-way preposition. Because we are talking about a fixed location where the doctors work (answering the question 'where?'), it requires the dative case. In the dative case, the feminine ending changes to -er, so the word diese changes to dieser.
Why is the verb arbeiten placed before the subject zehn Ärzte?
This is due to the German verb-second rule. Because the location phrase Auf dieser Station is placed at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis, it takes up the first position. The verb arbeiten must take position two, which pushes the subject zehn Ärzte right after the verb.
Does Station mean the same thing as the English word 'station'?
Sometimes, but you have to watch the context! In a medical setting, die Station translates to a hospital 'ward'. If you want to talk about a train station, you must use a completely different word: der Bahnhof.
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