Questions & Answers about Ich will meine Eltern nicht enttäuschen.
Why is will used here if the English translation is 'want'? Doesn't will mean future tense?
In German, will is the conjugated form of the modal verb wollen for 'ich', which means 'to want'. It is a classic false friend because it looks exactly like the English future tense word 'will'. To express the future tense in German, you must use the verb werden.
Why is nicht placed right before enttäuschen instead of directly after the verb will?
When negating the main action of a sentence, nicht usually goes as close to the end as possible. Here, the modal verb will pushes the infinitive verb (enttäuschen) to the very end of the sentence. The nicht sits right in front of it to negate the specific action of disappointing.
What case is meine Eltern in this sentence?
It is in the accusative case because meine Eltern is the direct object receiving the action of the verb enttäuschen. Since Eltern (parents) is a plural noun, the possessive pronoun takes the plural accusative ending -e, resulting in meine.
The verb enttäuschen means 'to disappoint'. How does the prefix ent- change its root word?
The root verb täuschen means 'to deceive' or 'to fool'. The prefix ent- often indicates the removal or reversal of a state. Therefore, enttäuschen literally means 'to un-deceive' or take someone out of an illusion, which perfectly captures the psychological feeling of disappointment!