Der Clown schenkt jedem Kind eine kleine Mütze aus Papier.

The clown gives every child a small paper cap.

Breakdown of Der Clown schenkt jedem Kind eine kleine Mütze aus Papier.

• das Kind: the child
• klein: small
• aus: from
• schenken: to give
• jeder: every
• der Clown: the clown
• die Mütze: the cap
• das Papier: the paper

Questions & Answers about Der Clown schenkt jedem Kind eine kleine Mütze aus Papier.

Why is schenkt used here and what does the verb schenken mean?

• schenken means “to give (as a gift).”
• It’s different from geben (“to give” in general) because schenken implies gifting something.
• Grammatically, schenken requires two objects:
  • A dative object for the recipient (to whom you give)
  • An accusative object for the gift itself
• In third-person singular (er/sie/es), schenken is conjugated as schenkt.

Why is jedem Kind in the dative case?

• Because with schenken, the person who receives the gift must be in the dative.
• jedem is the dative form of jeder (“each/every”) for masculine/neuter nouns.
• Kind is a neuter noun, so jeder→jedem in the dative singular.

Why is eine kleine Mütze in the accusative case?

• The gift itself (Mütze) is the direct object of schenkt, so it’s in the accusative case.
• Mütze is feminine, so the indefinite article in accusative singular is eine.

Why does the adjective kleine end with -e instead of -en or -es?

Because of German adjective declension rules after an indefinite article in the accusative feminine singular:
• Feminine accusative strong ending is -e
• Pattern: eine (article) + kleine (adjective) + Mütze (noun)

Why is aus Papier used, and what case does aus take?

• aus means “out of” or “made of” when describing material.
• Prepositions like aus always take the dative case.
• Papier is a neuter noun; its dative singular form remains Papier (no ending change).
• Similar examples: aus Holz (made of wood), aus Glas (made of glass).

Why does the sentence put the dative object (jedem Kind) before the accusative object (eine kleine Mütze)?

• General German word order rule with two full-noun objects: dative usually comes before accusative.
• This order clarifies who gets what: first the recipient, then the gift.

What is the gender of Clown, and how do I know to use der?

• Clown is a masculine noun in German.
• Like many agent-nouns ending in –er, it takes der in the nominative singular.
• Loanwords from English often adopt a gender; here it’s masculine, so der Clown.

Could I say den Kindern instead of jedem Kind? What would change?

• den Kindern is the dative plural of die Kinder (“the children”). You’d be saying “to the children” (plural definite), not “to each child.”
• jedem Kind emphasizes “to each child (one by one).”
• Both are correct but convey slightly different focuses:
  • den Kindern = “to the children” (as a group)
  • jedem Kind = “to each child” (individually)