Breakdown of Die Vertragskontonummer steht über dem Abrechnungszeitraum.
über
above
stehen
to say, be written
die Vertragskontonummer
the contract account number
der Abrechnungszeitraum
the billing period
Questions & Answers about Die Vertragskontonummer steht über dem Abrechnungszeitraum.
Why is Vertragskontonummer written as one long word?
German very often combines nouns into one compound noun where English would use several separate words.
Vertragskontonummer can be broken down like this:
- Vertrag = contract
- Konto = account
- Nummer = number
Together, it means something like contract account number.
A useful rule: in German compounds, the last part is the main noun. So here, the whole word is a kind of Nummer, and that is also what determines the grammatical gender.
Why does the sentence start with Die?
Die is the definite article for the noun Vertragskontonummer.
The important point is that the whole compound noun takes its gender from its final element:
- die Nummer → feminine
So:
- die Vertragskontonummer
Here, die is also the nominative singular article, because Vertragskontonummer is the subject of the sentence.
Why is steht used here? Does it literally mean stands?