Word
Das Einkaufen im Supermarkt macht heute Spaß.
Meaning
Shopping at the supermarket is fun today.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Das Einkaufen im Supermarkt macht heute Spaß.
in
in
dem
the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
heute
today
Spaß machen
to be fun
Questions & Answers about Das Einkaufen im Supermarkt macht heute Spaß.
Why is Einkaufen capitalized, and is it a noun or a verb?
In German you can turn a verb into a noun (called a nominalized verb) by capitalizing the infinitive and adding an article. Here das Einkaufen is a noun meaning “the act of shopping.”
Why is the article das used before Einkaufen?
Because when you nominalize a verb, it behaves like any other noun. Einkaufen is treated as a neuter noun, so it takes the neuter definite article das.
What is the role of im in im Supermarkt, and what case does Supermarkt have?
im is a contraction of in + dem. With location meaning “in,” in governs the dative case, so dem Supermarkt becomes im Supermarkt.
Why is Spaß at the end, and what case is it in?
In the idiom Spaß machen (“to be fun”), Spaß is the direct object. Objects in German usually follow the verb and take the accusative case, so Spaß is accusative here.
What does Spaß machen mean literally and idiomatically?