Question 1

How does the be- prefix function in the verb beschäftigen?

Accepted Answer

The prefix be- often creates transitive verbs (verbs that take a direct object) out of nouns, adjectives, or other verbs. Here, beschäftigen is related to the noun das Geschäft (business) and the adjective geschäftig (busy). Adding be- turns this into an action a subject does to an object: you make someone busy, which translates to employing them or keeping them occupied.

Question 2

Why use über hundert instead of mehr als hundert?

Accepted Answer

Both are grammatically correct and mean the same thing. However, when talking about numbers, quantities, or ages, German speakers frequently use über instead of mehr als because it is shorter and flows nicely in everyday language, much like choosing "over" instead of "more than" in English.

Question 3

Why is there no word for "a" before hundert, like there is in the English translation?

Accepted Answer

When expressing the numbers 100 or 1,000 as a general quantity, German simply uses hundert and tausend without an indefinite article. You only use einhundert or eintausend if you need to be extremely precise or emphasize that it is exactly one (such as in banking, reading out long numbers, or mathematics).

Question 4

How do we know Mitarbeiter is plural in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

Masculine nouns that end in -er and refer to people (usually professions or doers of an action) do not change their spelling in the plural. Der Mitarbeiter (the employee) becomes die Mitarbeiter (the employees). Because the singular and plural look identical, you have to rely on context clues; here, the number hundert clearly indicates it is plural.

Die Firma beschäftigt über hundert Mitarbeiter.

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