Ich beanstande den Abrechnungszeitraum.

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Breakdown of Ich beanstande den Abrechnungszeitraum.

• der Abrechnungszeitraum: the billing period
• beanstanden: to dispute; formally object to

Questions & Answers about Ich beanstande den Abrechnungszeitraum.

Why is it den Abrechnungszeitraum and not der Abrechnungszeitraum?

Because beanstanden takes a direct object, and the direct object is in the accusative case.

• der Abrechnungszeitraum = nominative
• den Abrechnungszeitraum = accusative

Here, ich is the subject, and den Abrechnungszeitraum is the thing being objected to or challenged.

A quick breakdown:

• Ich = subject, nominative
• beanstande = verb
• den Abrechnungszeitraum = direct object, accusative

Since Abrechnungszeitraum is masculine, its article changes from der to den in the accusative.

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How do I know that Abrechnungszeitraum is masculine?

In German compound nouns, the last part determines the grammatical gender.

Here the word is made up of:

• Abrechnung = billing / accounting / statement
• Zeitraum = period / time span

The final element is Zeitraum, and der Zeitraum is masculine. So the whole compound is also masculine:

• der Abrechnungszeitraum

This is a very useful rule for German compounds.

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What exactly is grammatically?