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Questions & Answers about Ich habe ein eigenes Auto.
Why is Auto capitalized?
In German, all nouns are always capitalized, regardless of their position in the sentence. That’s why Auto (car) starts with a capital letter.
What is the gender and case of Auto in this sentence?
Auto is a neuter noun (das Auto). Here it’s the direct object of the verb haben, so it’s in the accusative case. Neuter nouns use the same form for nominative and accusative.
Why is the article ein and not einen?
Because Auto is neuter. The accusative form of the indefinite article for neuter nouns remains ein. Einen would be used only for masculine nouns in the accusative.
Why does eigen take the ending -es (making eigenes)?
After an indefinite article with a noun in the neuter accusative, an attributive adjective needs the ending -es to show gender and case. So you get ein eigenes Auto.
Can I drop the article and say Ich habe eigenes Auto?
No. In German you generally need a determiner (like an article, possessive pronoun, demonstrative, etc.) before the adjective. Without ein, the adjective eigenes has no anchor and the sentence is ungrammatical.
Why not use a possessive pronoun like mein instead of ein?
You can! Ein eigenes Auto means “a car of my own” (indefinite). If you want to say specifically “my own car,” you use mein eigenes Auto. Here mein acts as the determiner, and eigenes still shows “own.”
How would I say “I have my own car” instead?
You’d say:
Ich habe mein eigenes Auto.
– mein is the first-person possessive pronoun (neuter accusative), and eigenes keeps its -es ending.
What if I use Wagen instead of Auto?
Wagen is masculine (der Wagen). In the accusative it becomes einen for the article and -en for the adjective:
Ich habe einen eigenen Wagen.