Der Richter bestraft den Täter.

Because the sentence uses two different cases:

• der Richter = nominative case, for the subject (the person doing the action)
• den Täter = accusative case, for the direct object (the person receiving the action)

The verb bestraft means punishes, so:

• the judge does the punishing
• the offender/perpetrator is being punished

For a masculine noun like Richter or Täter, the article changes like this:

• nominative: der
• accusative: den

So the articles help show who is doing what.

In German, the case markings tell you that.

• Der Richter is nominative, so it is the subject
• den Täter is accusative, so it is the object

So the meaning is:

• The judge punishes the offender

Even if you changed the word order to Den Täter bestraft der Richter, it would still mean the same thing, because the cases still show the roles.

bestraft here is present tense, third person singular, from the verb bestrafen.

The full present-tense pattern is:

• ich bestrafe
• du bestrafst
• er/sie/es bestraft
• wir bestrafen
• ihr bestraft
• sie/Sie bestrafen

So Der Richter bestraft den Täter is literally The judge punishes the offender. Depending on context, English might also translate it as is punishing.

In this sentence, the articles show the case clearly, so the noun itself does not need to change.

• der Richter
• den Täter

The noun Täter stays Täter The noun Richter stays Richter

This is normal for many masculine nouns. The article often carries the main case information.

They are grammatically masculine nouns, which is why they take der and den here.

• der Richter = judge
• der Täter = offender/perpetrator

In traditional usage, these forms can refer specifically to men, but in some contexts they may also be used more generally. If you specifically want a female form, you usually use:

• die Richterin = female judge
• die Täterin = female offender/perpetrator

Then the sentence would change accordingly.

Täter usually means offender, perpetrator, or sometimes culprit, depending on context.

It is often used in legal or crime-related contexts. It is not just any person doing an action; it usually suggests someone who committed a wrongful or criminal act.

So den Täter is not just the person, but more specifically the offender/perpetrator.

Yes. German word order is more flexible than English, because case helps show grammatical roles.

These are both possible:

• Der Richter bestraft den Täter.
• Den Täter bestraft der Richter.

Both mean:

• The judge punishes the offender.

However, the second version puts more emphasis on den Täter. In a normal neutral sentence, the first order is the most straightforward.

German main clauses usually follow the V2 rule: the finite verb comes in the second position.

In this sentence:

• Der Richter = first element
• bestraft = second position
• den Täter = rest of the sentence

If you move another element to the front, the verb still stays second:

• Heute bestraft der Richter den Täter.
• Den Täter bestraft der Richter.

So the verb’s position is a very important feature of German main clauses.

Because in German, all nouns are capitalized.

So:

• der Richter
• den Täter

both have capital letters because Richter and Täter are nouns.

This is a standard rule in German and helps learners spot nouns more easily.

Täter is pronounced roughly like TEH-ter, but with a German ä sound.

A few pronunciation notes:

• ä is usually like the e in English bed, though exact pronunciation can vary
• the first syllable is stressed: TÄ-ter
• the final -er in German is not pronounced exactly like strong English er; it is softer, often closer to a relaxed uh sound

So it is something like TÄ-tuh, though that is only an approximation.

No. bestrafen is not separable.

That means the prefix be- stays attached to the verb:

• Der Richter bestraft den Täter.
• Der Richter hat den Täter bestraft.

You do not split it into something like straft ... be.

Many German verbs with be- are inseparable.

A common way is to use nicht:

• Der Richter bestraft den Täter nicht. = The judge does not punish the offender.

If you wanted to negate the object as not an offender / no offender, you might use kein, but that would change the meaning and structure.

For simple sentence negation, nicht is the usual choice.

No, not in this form.

Because:

• der Richter is nominative = subject
• den Täter is accusative = object

So the sentence can only mean:

• The judge punishes the offender

If you wanted The offender punishes the judge, you would need:

• Der Täter bestraft den Richter.

The articles make the difference clear.