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Questions & Answers about Der Zeuge schweigt.
Why is it der Zeuge and not die Zeuge or das Zeuge?
Because Zeuge is a masculine noun in German. In the nominative singular (the form used for the subject of the sentence), masculine nouns take der.
So here:
- der = nominative singular masculine article
- Zeuge = the subject
If the noun were feminine, you would expect die. If it were neuter, you would expect das.
Why is Zeuge capitalized, but schweigt is not?
In German, all nouns are capitalized, not just proper names.
So:
- Zeuge is a noun, so it is capitalized.
- schweigt is a verb, so it is not capitalized.
- Der is capitalized here only because it is the first word of the sentence.
This is one of the most noticeable spelling differences between German and English.
Why does the masculine noun Zeuge end in -e?