Breakdown of Trotz der späten Stunde bleibt das Publikum begeistert.
spät
late
bleiben
to remain
das Publikum
the audience
trotz
despite
die Stunde
the hour
begeistert
enthusiastic
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Questions & Answers about Trotz der späten Stunde bleibt das Publikum begeistert.
Why is Trotz followed by der späten Stunde instead of another case or form?
Trotz is a preposition that normally governs the genitive case in standard German. Here die späte Stunde (“the late hour”) is feminine singular, so its genitive form is der späten Stunde. The article der marks genitive feminine, and the adjective späten takes the ‑en ending due to weak declension.
Why is spät inflected as späten rather than späte or spät?
After a definite article in genitive feminine singular (here der), adjectives follow the weak declension pattern and receive an ‑en ending. Hence spät becomes späten.
Why does bleibt appear before das Publikum in this sentence?
German is a verb‐second (V2) language. When you begin with an adverbial phrase like Trotz der späten Stunde, the finite verb (bleibt) must occupy the second position. The subject (das Publikum) then follows the verb.
Why is Publikum treated as singular and not plural?
Publikum is a collective noun in German. It refers to a group as a single entity, so it takes singular agreement. That’s why the verb is bleibt (third person singular), not bleiben.
What is the function of begeistert here? Is it a verb form?
Begeistert is the past participle of begeistern used as a predicative adjective. After bleibt it describes the ongoing state of the audience: “remains enthusiastic.” It isn’t functioning as a main verb here.
Why is there no von before begeistert? I thought one is “begeistert von etwas.”
When you use begeistert predicatively with verbs like bleiben, you don’t need von. The construction begeistert sein von is a different pattern (e.g., Das Publikum ist von der Show begeistert). With bleiben, you simply say bleibt begeistert.
Can I place Trotz der späten Stunde at the end of the sentence instead?
Yes. You can rearrange it to Das Publikum bleibt begeistert trotz der späten Stunde. You might also say Das Publikum bleibt begeistert, obwohl es schon spät ist (using the subordinating conjunction obwohl).
Are there other ways to express “despite” in German?
Certainly. Besides trotz + genitive, you can use obwohl + clause (Obwohl es schon spät ist, bleibt das Publikum begeistert) or the more formal ungeachtet (Ungeachtet der späten Stunde bleibt das Publikum begeistert). However, trotz is by far the most common.