Breakdown of Meine Mitbewohnerin geht mit dem Hund spazieren.
dem
the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
der Hund
the dog
mit
with
mein
my
spazieren gehen
to go for a walk
die Mitbewohnerin
the roommate
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Questions & Answers about Meine Mitbewohnerin geht mit dem Hund spazieren.
Why is Mitbewohnerin capitalized?
In German, all nouns are capitalized regardless of where they appear in the sentence. Mitbewohnerin is a noun (female roommate), so it gets a capital letter.
What does the suffix -in in Mitbewohnerin indicate?
The ending -in marks the feminine form of a noun. Mitbewohner is “male roommate,” and Mitbewohnerin is “female roommate.”
Why is the possessive pronoun meine used instead of mein?
Because Mitbewohnerin is feminine singular in the nominative case, the possessive mein takes the ending -e, becoming meine to match gender and case.
Why is the verb geht in the second position, and not at the end?
German main clauses follow the V2 (verb-second) word order: the finite verb must occupy the second position. Here, geht (3rd person singular of gehen) sits right after the subject.
Why is spazieren at the end of the sentence?
Spazierengehen (“to go for a walk”) is a separable verb. In a main clause, the second element (spazieren) detaches and moves to the very end.
What exactly is spazieren gehen? Is it a single verb?
It’s a fixed two-word expression combining spazieren (to stroll) and gehen (to go). Grammatically it behaves like a separable verb: infinitive spazieren gehen, conjugated as geht … spazieren.
Why is mit followed by dem Hund? What case is that?
The preposition mit always requires the dative case. Since Hund is masculine singular, der Hund becomes dem Hund in the dative.
Why is the article dem used instead of den or der?
In the dative singular, the definite article for masculine and neuter nouns is dem. (Masculine accusative would be den, feminine dative would be der.)
Could you say Meine Mitbewohnerin spaziere mit dem Hund instead?
While spazieren can stand alone (e.g. er spaziert), native speakers almost always use spazieren gehen for “to go for a walk.” Saying only spazieren here sounds unusual.
What’s the difference between spazieren gehen and Gassi gehen?
Gassi gehen is a colloquial phrase specifically for “walking the dog.” Spazieren gehen is more general, meaning “to take a walk” (with people, animals, etc.).