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Breakdown of Alle Teller in der Küche sind noch schmutzig, weil niemand abgewaschen hat.
sein
to be
in
in
die Küche
the kitchen
weil
because
der
the
noch
still
der Teller
the plate
schmutzig
dirty
niemand
nobody
abwaschen
to wash
Questions & Answers about Alle Teller in der Küche sind noch schmutzig, weil niemand abgewaschen hat.
Why is Teller capitalized?
All nouns in German are capitalized. Since Teller means "plates," it's treated as a noun and must begin with a capital letter.
Why do we say in der Küche instead of in die Küche?
The preposition in can take either the accusative or the dative case, depending on whether there is movement or not. Here, there is no movement into the kitchen, so it takes the dative case (in der Küche).
What does noch mean in this context?
Noch here means "still" or "yet," highlighting that the plates remain dirty and that the situation hasn't changed up to the present moment.
Why is the word order reversed after weil (niemand abgewaschen hat)?
Weil is a subordinating conjunction, which sends the conjugated verb to the end of the clause. Therefore, we have niemand abgewaschen hat rather than niemand hat abgewaschen in a main clause word order.
What form is abgewaschen, and how does it work?
Abgewaschen is the past participle of the verb abwaschen ("to wash up" or "to do the dishes"). It forms part of the perfect tense in German when used with hat (the auxiliary verb), indicating a completed action in the past.
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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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