Ich finde die Quelle des Flusses im Wald.

in

Breakdown of Ich finde die Quelle des Flusses im Wald.

• dem: the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
• ich: I
• finden: to find

Questions & Answers about Ich finde die Quelle des Flusses im Wald.

Why is Quelle in the accusative case?

• The verb finden is transitive and takes a direct object in the accusative
• Here die Quelle is what is being found, so it appears in the accusative feminine singular

Why is des Flusses in the genitive case and how is it formed?

• des Flusses shows possession or origin of the river
• To form the genitive singular of masculine der Fluss, change the article to des and add -es to Fluss, yielding des Flusses

Why is Flusses spelled with double s and not ß?

• Modern German orthography uses ss (not ß) after short vowels
• In the genitive you keep that ss and add -es, giving Flusses

What does im stand for, and why is this phrase in the dative?