Der Hund beißt das Spielzeug.

the dog

Breakdown of Der Hund beißt das Spielzeug.

• das Spielzeug: the toy
• beißen: to bite

Questions & Answers about Der Hund beißt das Spielzeug.

What do der and das mean in this sentence?

They are the German definite articles, equivalent to English the.

• der Hund = the dog
• das Spielzeug = the toy

In German, articles also show gender, number, and case, so they do more grammatical work than English the.

Why is it der Hund and not den Hund?

Because der Hund is the subject of the sentence, the one doing the action. Subjects take the nominative case.

For the masculine noun Hund:

• der Hund = nominative
• den Hund = accusative

So if the dog were the direct object instead, you would use den Hund.

How do I know that the dog is biting the toy, and not the other way around?

German uses case to show each noun’s role.

• der Hund is nominative, so it is the subject
• das Spielzeug is accusative here, so it is the direct object

So the dog is the one doing the biting, and the toy is the thing being bitten.

In this sentence, the normal English-like word order also helps:

subject + verb + object
Der Hund + beißt + das Spielzeug