Breakdown of Der Hund spielt mit dem Spielzeug im Garten.
spielen
to play
in
in
dem
the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
der Hund
the dog
mit
with
der Garten
the garden
das Spielzeug
the toy
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching German grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Der Hund spielt mit dem Spielzeug im Garten.
Why is Der used for Hund instead of Den?
Hund is the subject of the sentence, so it takes the nominative masculine article Der. Den would be the masculine accusative article, used for direct objects, not for the subject.
How do I know Hund is masculine?
In German, every noun has a grammatical gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter). You learn a noun’s gender along with the noun itself. Dictionaries and vocabulary lists always mark the gender: Hund is marked as masculine (der Hund).
Why is spielt used instead of spiele or spielst?
German verbs change their ending depending on the subject (person and number). Here the subject is Der Hund (third person singular), so the present‐tense ending for spielen is –t, giving spielt.
Why does mit take dem in mit dem Spielzeug?
The preposition mit always governs the dative case. Spielzeug is a neuter noun, so its dative singular article is dem. Hence you say mit dem Spielzeug.
Why is Spielzeug neuter and not masculine or feminine?
German assigns each noun a grammatical gender that often doesn’t match biological gender. Spielzeug happens to be neuter (das Spielzeug). You simply memorize or look up each noun’s gender.
What is im Garten, and why is it not in dem Garten?
im is the contracted form of in dem (in + dem → im). Germans often contract prepositions with the definite article for fluidity. Both im Garten and in dem Garten mean “in the garden,” but im is more common.
Could I say in Garten without an article?
No. German normally requires an article before singular, countable nouns. Omitting the article (in Garten) would be ungrammatical. You need dem Garten (dative case after in when indicating location).
Why are the phrases mit dem Spielzeug and im Garten placed after the verb?
In a standard main clause, German puts the finite verb second, then allows objects and adverbials (like prepositional phrases) to follow. So you have Subject (Der Hund) – Verb (spielt) – then prepositional phrases (mit dem Spielzeug im Garten). This order is both logical and idiomatic.