Word
Der Lehrer antwortet dem Schüler geduldig.
Meaning
The teacher answers the student patiently.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Der Lehrer antwortet dem Schüler geduldig.
der Lehrer
the teacher
geduldig
patiently
dem
the; (masculine, dative)
antworten
to answer
Questions & Answers about Der Lehrer antwortet dem Schüler geduldig.
Why is dem Schüler in the dative case rather than the accusative?
The verb antworten in German always takes a dative object to indicate the person being answered. Since der Schüler is masculine singular in the dative, it changes to dem Schüler.
Why is there no direct (accusative) object in this sentence?
Because antworten is an intransitive verb that governs the dative. It doesn’t need (and can’t take) an accusative object—only the person you answer (dative) is needed.
Why does geduldig appear at the end of the sentence?
German follows a loose order for adverbs: Time – Manner – Place (TMP). Here there’s no time or place adverb, so the manner adverb geduldig (“patiently”) comes after the object, placing it at the end.
Is geduldig an adjective or an adverb here, and why is it uninflected?
It’s an adjective used adverbially. In German, when you use an adjective to describe how something is done (manner adverb), you don’t add endings—it stays in its base form, geduldig.
How do you conjugate antworten in the present tense for “he answers”?