Breakdown of Die Lampe an der Zimmerdecke leuchtet hell.
leuchten
to shine
an
on
hell
brightly
die Lampe
the lamp
die Zimmerdecke
the ceiling
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching German grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Die Lampe an der Zimmerdecke leuchtet hell.
What is the case and function of die Lampe in the sentence?
die Lampe is the subject of the sentence, so it’s in the nominative case. In German, the nominative case marks the actor or “doer” of the verb—in this case, the thing that leuchtet.
Why is an der Zimmerdecke used, and why is der the correct article here?
The preposition an when indicating a static location (“at/on”) governs the dative case. Zimmerdecke is a feminine noun, so its dative singular article is der. Hence an der Zimmerdecke literally means “at (or on) the ceiling.”
Why is Zimmerdecke written as one word and how do I know its gender?
German creates compound nouns by simply joining words: Zimmer (“room”) + Decke (“ceiling”) → Zimmerdecke. The gender of a compound noun is always that of its final element. Since Decke is feminine, Zimmerdecke is also feminine.
How do I know that an der Zimmerdecke modifies die Lampe and not the verb leuchtet?
Because the prepositional phrase appears immediately after die Lampe, it belongs to the noun phrase, specifying which lamp. If it modified the verb—telling where the shining occurs—you would either move it or rephrase (and in that case you’d often use accusative for direction: e.g. leuchtet an die Zimmerdecke for “shines onto the ceiling”).
Why is hell not inflected, and what is its role in the sentence?
Here hell is an adverb describing how the lamp shines. Adverbs in German remain uninflected. If you wanted an adjective before a noun (“the bright lamp”), you would say die helle Lampe, and there helle would take an ending.
What’s the infinitive of leuchtet, and why does the verb appear in second position?
The infinitive is leuchten (“to shine”). In the present tense, 3rd person singular adds -t, giving er leuchtet. In a main clause German requires the finite verb to be in the second position (V2 rule), so leuchtet comes right after the subject phrase Die Lampe an der Zimmerdecke.
Can I change the word order, for example, front an der Zimmerdecke?
Yes. You can place an der Zimmerdecke at the beginning:
An der Zimmerdecke leuchtet die Lampe hell.
German allows flexible word order as long as the finite verb stays in the second position.