Questions & Answers about Er betrügt seinen Freund.
Why is it seinen Freund and not sein Freund?
Because Freund is the direct object here, so it is in the accusative case.
- der Freund = nominative
- den Freund = accusative
The possessive sein- has to match that case, so:
- sein Freund = nominative
- seinen Freund = accusative
So in this sentence, seinen Freund is correct because he is the person being cheated/deceived.
What case is seinen Freund?
It is accusative.
The verb betrügen normally takes a direct object, and that object goes in the accusative:
- Er betrügt seinen Freund.
Here:
- Er = subject, nominative
- seinen Freund = direct object, accusative
Why is the verb betrügt and not betrügen?
Because the verb has to be conjugated to match the subject.
The infinitive is betrügen = to cheat / to deceive.
With er (he), the present tense form is:
- ich betrüge
- du betrügst
- er/sie/es betrügt
- wir betrügen
- ihr betrügt
- sie/Sie betrügen
So Er betrügt means he cheats / he is cheating / he deceives.