Word
Der Rückgabeautomat steht draußen.
Meaning
The returns machine is outside.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Der Rückgabeautomat steht draußen.
draußen
outside
stehen
to stand
der Rückgabeautomat
the returns machine
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Questions & Answers about Der Rückgabeautomat steht draußen.
Why is it der Rückgabeautomat?
Because Rückgabeautomat is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case.
Also, the noun is masculine:
- der Automat = the machine
- so der Rückgabeautomat = the return machine
A useful rule for German compounds: the last part decides the gender. Since Automat is masculine, Rückgabeautomat is masculine too.
How is Rückgabeautomat formed?
It is a compound noun, which is very common in German.
It breaks down like this:
- Rückgabe = return, handing something back
- Automat = machine, automated machine
So Rückgabeautomat literally means something like return machine.
German usually writes these compounds as one word, even when they look long to an English speaker.
Why does the sentence use steht instead of ist?