Breakdown of Das Mitglied sitzt im Park.
in
in
dem
the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
der Park
the park
sitzen
to sit
das Mitglied
the member
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Questions & Answers about Das Mitglied sitzt im Park.
Why is Mitglied neuter, and why do we use das with it?
In German every noun has a fixed grammatical gender: masculine, feminine, or neuter. Mitglied happens to be neuter, so its singular definite article is das, giving das Mitglied. This is a property you need to learn along with the noun.
Why is the sentence using im Park instead of in dem Park?
im is simply the contracted form of in dem. In spoken and written German, preposition + article combinations like in dem → im are very common and mean exactly the same thing.
Why is the dative case used after in here?
When in indicates location (static position, “where?”), it governs the dative case. Since the member is sitting in the park (not moving into it), Park takes the dative: dem Park (contracted to im Park).
Could you ever say ins Park instead of im Park?
Yes – ins is the contraction of in + das, used when in expresses movement into something (accusative case). You’d say ins Park if someone goes into the park, but for “sitting in the park” you stick with im Park.
Why do we use the verb sitzen here instead of stehen or liegen?
German distinguishes three basic posture verbs: sitzen (to sit), stehen (to stand), and liegen (to lie). The choice depends on how the subject is positioned. Here the member is sitting, so you use sitzen.
How would you ask “Where is the member sitting?” in German?
You’d say Wo sitzt das Mitglied?
Wo = “where,” sitzt is the correct 3rd‑person singular form of sitzen, and das Mitglied stays the same.
If I want to replace das Mitglied with a pronoun, should I use es, er, or sie?
Grammatically Mitglied is neuter, so the default pronoun is es:
Es sitzt im Park.
However, if you know the actual person’s gender, it’s perfectly normal to use er (he) or sie (she) for clarity.
Why are Mitglied and Park capitalized in the sentence?
In German all nouns are always capitalized, regardless of their position in the sentence. Both Mitglied and Park are nouns, so they take an initial capital letter.