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Questions & Answers about Die Polizei hilft den Menschen.
Why is the verb hilft singular instead of helfen?
In German, verbs must agree in person and number with their subject. Although police in English is treated as a plural concept (“the police are”), the German noun die Polizei is a singular collective noun. Therefore it takes the third-person singular form hilft (not helfen).
Why does the verb helfen use a dative object (den Menschen) instead of an accusative object?
Some German verbs require their object to be in the dative case rather than the accusative. Helfen is one of these “dative verbs.” The people receiving help must be marked with the dative article (den in the plural) instead of an accusative article.
Why is the article den used in front of Menschen instead of die?
Because Menschen here is the object of a dative verb. In German the definite articles in plural are:
• nominative: die
• accusative: die
• dative: den
So when you put Menschen in the dative plural, you use den.
Why doesn’t Menschen get an extra “-n” in the dative plural (e.g. Menschenn)?
In the dative plural, German adds an -n to a noun only if it doesn’t already end in -n. The word Menschen (the plural of Mensch) already ends in -n, so no additional -n is added.
Why is die Polizei a singular noun when it refers to a group of officers?
German often uses collective nouns to refer to institutions or groups. Polizei is such a collective noun—it denotes the police force as one entity—so it is grammatically singular.
How do I know that Polizei is feminine?
Many German nouns ending in -ei are feminine (for example, die Bäckerei, die Schokolade). This suffix is a reliable indicator that the noun takes die.
Can I change the word order to Den Menschen hilft die Polizei?
Yes. German allows most sentence elements to be fronted for emphasis, as long as the finite verb stays in second position. By saying Den Menschen hilft die Polizei, you’re emphasizing den Menschen (“It’s the people whom the police help”), but the subject–verb–object relationships remain the same.
Is helfen an irregular verb?
Yes. Helfen is a strong (irregular) verb. Its stem vowel changes in the present tense:
• ich helfe
• du hilfst
• er/sie/es hilft