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Breakdown of Ich habe Brot für den Hund.
der Hund
the dog
das Brot
the bread
ich
I
haben
to have
den
the
für
for
Questions & Answers about Ich habe Brot für den Hund.
Why do we say den Hund instead of der Hund in this sentence?
The preposition für always takes the accusative case in German. Because Hund is masculine, der becomes den to reflect the accusative.
Does Brot need to be capitalized?
Yes. In German, all nouns are capitalized, so Brot always starts with a capital letter.
Can I place nicht anywhere in this sentence if I want to negate it?
You would typically say Ich habe kein Brot für den Hund (to say "I don't have any bread for the dog") or Ich habe nicht Brot für den Hund, sondern Fleisch (“I don’t have bread for the dog, but meat”). Simply inserting nicht before Brot is less natural unless you specifically want to emphasize the bread.
Could I say Ich habe für den Hund Brot or does the word order matter?
You can say Ich habe für den Hund Brot, and the meaning remains the same. However, the typical or more neutral word order is Ich habe Brot für den Hund, with the direct object (Brot) before the prepositional phrase.
Is Hund always masculine?
Yes. In German, Hund is a masculine noun, which is why it appears with the masculine article (der/den/dem depending on the case).
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“How do German cases work?”
German has four grammatical cases: nominative (subject), accusative (direct object), dative (indirect object), and genitive (possession). The case determines the form of articles and adjectives. For example, "the dog" is "der Hund" as a subject but "den Hund" as a direct object.
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