Der Zug hält an der Station.

the train

Breakdown of Der Zug hält an der Station.

• an: at
• halten: to stop
• die Station: the station; ward

Questions & Answers about Der Zug hält an der Station.

Why is der used twice here, even though Zug is masculine and Station is feminine?

Because the two der forms are doing different jobs.

• Der Zug: here der is the masculine nominative singular article, because Zug is masculine and it is the subject of the sentence.
• an der Station: here der is the feminine dative singular article, because Station is feminine and it comes after the preposition an, which uses the dative here.

So the same word der can represent different case/gender combinations. That is very common in German.

Why is the verb hält and not halten?

Because the subject is Der Zug, which is third-person singular: he/it form.

The verb halten is the infinitive, like to stop or to hold.
When you conjugate it:

• ich halte
• du hältst
• er/sie/es hält
• wir halten
• ihr haltet
• sie/Sie halten

Since der Zug is grammatically er-type singular, you use hält.

Why does halten change to hält with an umlaut?