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Questions & Answers about Ich liebe das Buch.
Why does the sentence use das instead of der or die?
In German, Buch (meaning book) is a neuter noun, so it naturally takes the article das. Different nouns have different genders (masculine, feminine, or neuter); in this case, Buch is neuter.
Why is it das Buch and not something like dem Buch?
When you use Ich liebe (I love), you need the direct object in the accusative case. For neuter nouns, the accusative case looks the same as the nominative case (das remains das). dem would be the dative case, which does not apply here since lieben takes a direct object in the accusative.
How does the verb lieben get conjugated?
The verb lieben is a regular verb. In the present tense for ich, it becomes ich liebe. For example: • du liebst • er/sie/es liebt • wir lieben • ihr liebt • sie/Sie lieben
Could I say Ich mag das Buch instead?
Yes, but Ich mag das Buch generally means I like the book rather than I love the book. lieben expresses a stronger affection than .