Breakdown of Ich habe mir heute ein neues Hemd und eine bequeme Hose angezogen.
und
and
neu
new
ich
I
heute
today
haben
to have
mir
me
bequem
comfortable
das Hemd
the shirt
die Hose
the pants
anziehen
to put on
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Questions & Answers about Ich habe mir heute ein neues Hemd und eine bequeme Hose angezogen.
Why is the reflexive pronoun mir used in the sentence instead of mich?
In German, when describing the act of dressing oneself, the verb anziehen is used reflexively. When you include the items you’re putting on (the shirt and the trousers), these items become the direct (accusative) objects, and the reflexive pronoun must switch to the dative form. Thus, mir is used to indicate that the action is happening to the subject (myself) while the clothing items remain as separate accusative objects.
What does angezogen mean in this sentence, and why is it positioned at the end?
Angezogen is the past participle of the verb anziehen, which means "to put on" or "to dress." In the present perfect tense (Perfekt) used here, the past participle is placed at the end of the sentence. This construction signals that the action of putting on the clothes has been completed.
What tense is used in this sentence, and how is it formed in German?
The sentence is in the present perfect tense (Perfekt), a common tense in spoken German for expressing past actions. It is formed with the auxiliary verb haben (in this case, habe) in the second position, followed by the subject, and finally the past participle angezogen at the end of the sentence.
How are the adjectives neues (in “ein neues Hemd”) and bequeme (in “eine bequeme Hose”) declined in this context?
Both adjectives modify nouns that serve as accusative objects. For Hemd (a neuter noun), the indefinite article ein is used, and the adjective takes the ending -es to agree, resulting in neues Hemd. For Hose (a feminine noun), the indefinite article eine combines with the adjective ending -e, giving us bequeme Hose. These endings follow standard rules of German adjective declension based on the noun’s gender and case.
Why is the dative object mir placed before the accusative objects (ein neues Hemd and eine bequeme Hose)?
In German word order, when a sentence contains both a dative and an accusative object, the dative object generally comes first—especially when it is a pronoun. This is why mir appears right after the auxiliary verb, followed by the two accusative objects that specify what is being put on.