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Breakdown of Die Anzahl der Besucher steigt in jeder Saison.
in
in
jeder
every
der Besucher
the visitor
steigen
to rise
die Anzahl
the number
die Saison
the season
Questions & Answers about Die Anzahl der Besucher steigt in jeder Saison.
Why is Anzahl used in the singular form here even though it refers to many visitors?
Anzahl is a singular, feminine noun meaning “number” or “quantity.” It describes the total count as one unit. Even if you’re counting many items (or visitors), Anzahl itself remains singular.
Why do we say der Besucher in the phrase Die Anzahl der Besucher? Can’t we use von Besuchern?
In German, Anzahl normally takes a genitive complement, so you say Anzahl der Besucher (“the number of visitors”). Using von Besuchern (“of visitors”) is also grammatically possible—die Anzahl von Besuchern—but it’s slightly less formal or standard in written German. Native speakers often prefer the genitive here.
Could I replace Die Anzahl der Besucher with Die Besucherzahl?
Yes. Besucherzahl is a compound noun meaning “visitor number.” So Die Besucherzahl steigt… conveys the same idea and is perfectly idiomatic. It’s a bit more concise because German loves compounds.
Why is the verb steigt used instead of something like zunehmen?
Both verbs express an increase.
- steigen is intransitive and means “to rise” (e.g., a graph line or a number itself goes up).
- zunehmen also means “to increase” or “to grow,” but it often has a slightly different nuance (“to get bigger”) and can apply to weight or intensity.
Here, steigt is idiomatic for statistical or numerical increases.
Why do we say in jeder Saison and not just jede Saison?
The preposition in here locates the action “within each season.” It requires the dative case for time references. You could say jede Saison alone, but then you’d need a different structure—e.g., Jede Saison steigt die Besucherzahl (Every season the visitor number rises). With in jeder Saison you keep the original word order and emphasize the time frame.
What case is jeder Saison, and why is it dative?
After the preposition in, when used to indicate time (“in each season”), German uses the dative case. Saison is feminine, so its dative singular form is der Saison, and with the distributive jeder it becomes jeder Saison.
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“How do German cases work?”
German has four grammatical cases: nominative (subject), accusative (direct object), dative (indirect object), and genitive (possession). The case determines the form of articles and adjectives. For example, "the dog" is "der Hund" as a subject but "den Hund" as a direct object.
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