Breakdown of Die Kinder sprechen leise im Flur.
das Kind
the child
in
in
dem
the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
der Flur
the hallway
Questions & Answers about Die Kinder sprechen leise im Flur.
Why is the article die used for die Kinder?
die is the nominative plural definite article in German. Since Kinder is the plural of Kind (child), you use die to mark “the children” as the subject of the sentence.
Why is the verb sprechen used here instead of a singular form?
sprechen is the 3rd‑person plural form of sprechen (“to speak”). The subject die Kinder is plural (“they”), so the verb must agree and also be plural: sie sprechen.
Why is leise uninflected—why not leises or leisen?
Here leise functions as an adverb modifying the verb sprechen, meaning “quietly.” Adverbs in German do not take adjective endings; they remain in their base form.
What does im stand for in im Flur?
im is a contraction of in dem. When you combine the preposition in (in) with the dative definite article dem, you get im (“in the”) for masculine and neuter nouns.
Why is it im and not ins?