Beteiligte kommen zur Besprechung.

Participants come to the meeting.

Breakdown of Beteiligte kommen zur Besprechung.

• kommen: to come
• zu: to
• der: the
• die Besprechung: the meeting
• der Beteiligte: the participant

Questions & Answers about Beteiligte kommen zur Besprechung.

What does Beteiligte mean here and what is its grammatical role in the sentence?

Beteiligte is a plural noun derived from beteiligen (to involve). As a noun it means participants or those involved. Here it functions as the subject in the nominative plural, indicating who is performing the action.

Why is there no article before Beteiligte? Could we say Die Beteiligten instead?

In German you can drop the article to make a general statement, similar to saying Participants come to the meeting rather than The participants come to the meeting. Both are correct:

• Beteiligte kommen zur Besprechung (participants in general)
• Die Beteiligten kommen zur Besprechung (specific participants)

Omitting the article makes the reference more indefinite or neutral.

Why is the verb kommen in the plural, and why does it appear in this position?

The verb agrees with the subject in number and person. Since Beteiligte is plural, you use the 3rd person plural kommen. German main clauses follow the verb-second (V2) rule: the finite verb must occupy the second position. Here Beteiligte is first, so kommen comes second.

What is zur? Why not zum or just zu?

Zur is a contraction of zu der. Zu requires the dative case. Besprechung is feminine (die Besprechung), so zu + der = zur.

• Zum would be zu + dem, used with masculine or neuter nouns.
• Zu Besprechung without an article is ungrammatical when referring to a specific meeting.

Which case does Besprechung take, and how can you tell?

Because zu always takes the dative case, Besprechung is in the dative singular. You see this in the article contraction zur (= zu + der), where der marks the feminine dative.

Why is Besprechung capitalized?

All German nouns are capitalized, regardless of position. Besprechung is a noun meaning meeting or discussion, so it must start with a capital letter.

Can you add an indefinite article before Besprechung to say zur einer Besprechung?

No. Zur already means zu der (the definite article). To use an indefinite article you must write zu einer Besprechung (to a meeting). You cannot combine zur with einer, because zur always implies der.

Could you substitute Beteiligte with Teilnehmer, and what nuance would that create?

Yes. Teilnehmer means participants or attendees and is very common for events or meetings. The nuance is slight:

• Beteiligte emphasizes those involved or affected.
• Teilnehmer focuses on those taking part.
  So Teilnehmer kommen zur Besprechung sounds natural when you mean the meeting’s attendees.