Word
Frau Schmidt liest ein neues Buch.
Meaning
Mrs. Schmidt reads a new book.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Frau Schmidt liest ein neues Buch.
neu
new
das Buch
the book
lesen
to read
Frau Schmidt
Mrs. Schmidt
Questions & Answers about Frau Schmidt liest ein neues Buch.
Why is Frau capitalized in Frau Schmidt?
In German, all nouns are capitalized. Frau (“Mrs.” or “woman”) is a noun, and Schmidt is a proper noun (a surname), so both words must begin with a capital letter.
How do I know to use ein instead of eine or einen before neues Buch?
Buch is a neuter noun (das Buch). In the accusative case (as the direct object of lesen), the neuter indefinite article stays ein. Feminine nouns would take eine, masculine nouns einen, and plural nouns keine (or no article at all).
Why is the adjective neu written as neues here?
When you put an adjective directly before a noun and there’s an indefinite article, German uses a mixed declension. For a neuter noun in the accusative, the adjective ending is –es, so neu becomes neues.
Which case is ein neues Buch and why?
It’s the accusative case because ein neues Buch is the direct object of the verb lesen (“to read”). The subject (Frau Schmidt) is in the nominative, the object in the accusative.