Word
Der Hund trinkt Wasser vom Fluss.
Meaning
The dog drinks water from the river.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Der Hund trinkt Wasser vom Fluss.
der Hund
the dog
trinken
to drink
das Wasser
the water
der Fluss
the river
Questions & Answers about Der Hund trinkt Wasser vom Fluss.
Why is Wasser capitalized even though it’s not at the beginning of the sentence?
In German, all nouns are capitalized regardless of their position in a sentence. That’s why Wasser (water) appears with a capital letter.
Why is there no article before Wasser?
Because Wasser here is an uncountable (mass) noun and the speaker means “some water” in a general sense. In German you can omit the article to express an indefinite quantity of a mass noun.
What case is Wasser in, and how can I tell?
Wasser is in the accusative case because it’s the direct object of the verb trinkt. In German, the direct object of a transitive verb normally takes the accusative.
What exactly is vom, and why is it used instead of von dem?
Vom is a contraction of von dem. The preposition von (“from,” “of”) always takes the dative case, so dem Fluss (dative masculine) becomes vom Fluss.
Could I use aus dem Fluss instead of vom Fluss, and would the meaning change?