Ein starker Euro hilft der Wirtschaft unseres Landes.
A strong euro helps the economy of our country.
Breakdown of Ein starker Euro hilft der Wirtschaft unseres Landes.
unser
our
helfen
to help
stark
strong
der Euro
the euro
die Wirtschaft
the economy
das Land
the country
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Questions & Answers about Ein starker Euro hilft der Wirtschaft unseres Landes.
Why does the adjective stark take the ending -er in ein starker Euro?
Because after an indefinite article like ein—which in the masculine nominative singular does not fully mark gender—the adjective must carry a strong ending. For masculine nominative singular that ending is -er, giving starker.
Why is ein used instead of der or das, and what nuance does that convey?
Using ein (the indefinite article) makes the statement general (“a strong euro” in principle), rather than pointing to one specific euro. If you said der starke Euro, you would refer to “the strong euro,” a particular, already-known concept.
Why is der Wirtschaft in the dative case instead of accusative?
Because the verb helfen in German governs the dative case for the entity receiving help. Since Wirtschaft is feminine, its dative singular form is der Wirtschaft (nominative: die Wirtschaft → dative: der Wirtschaft).
Why does helfen change to hilft here?
helfen is an irregular (strong) verb that undergoes a vowel change in the 2nd and 3rd person singular: the stem vowel e changes to i. So ich helfe, du hilfst, er/sie/es hilft.
Why is unseres Landes in the genitive case, and why does Landes end in -es?
unseres Landes expresses possession: “our country’s economy.” German uses the genitive to indicate “X’s Y.” Neuter nouns like Land add -es (or -s) in the genitive singular, and the possessive pronoun unser takes the ending -es to agree with genitive neuter.
Could we use a synonym like unterstützen instead of helfen, and what would change in the sentence?
Yes. unterstützen requires the accusative case. The sentence would become:
Ein starker Euro unterstützt die Wirtschaft unseres Landes.
Here die Wirtschaft is accusative (not dative).
Why is the finite verb hilft in the second position, and can we swap word order for emphasis?
In German main clauses the finite verb must occupy the second “slot” (V2 rule). You can swap the subject and object for emphasis:
Der Wirtschaft unseres Landes hilft ein starker Euro.
This is grammatically correct but shifts the focus to der Wirtschaft unseres Landes.
Why are Euro, Wirtschaft, and Landes capitalized?
In German, every noun is always capitalized, regardless of its position in the sentence. That’s why you see Euro, Wirtschaft, and Landes with initial capitals.