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Questions & Answers about Der Hund wartet geduldig.
What case and gender is Der Hund, and why does der change form here?
Der is the masculine nominative singular definite article. Hund is a masculine noun in German, and because it is the subject of the sentence (the one doing the waiting), it takes the nominative case with the form der.
Why is the verb warten conjugated as wartet?
German verbs change their endings to agree with the subject in person and number. Der Hund is third person singular (he/it), so warten becomes wartet in the present tense:
ich warte, du wartest, er/sie/es wartet, wir warten…
Is geduldig acting as an adjective or an adverb here? Why isn’t there an ending like -er or -en?
Here geduldig is a predicative adjective describing der Hund’s manner of waiting. Predicative adjectives in German follow a verb (like warten) and remain uninflected—they don’t take adjective endings. English would use the adverb “patiently,” but German uses the adjective form in this case.
Why is geduldig placed after the verb instead of before the noun?