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Breakdown of In der Klinik behandelt eine junge Ärztin jeden Patienten sehr freundlich.
in
in
sehr
very
freundlich
friendly
der
the; (feminine, dative)
jung
young
jeden
every; (masculine, accusative)
die Klinik
the clinic
der Patient
the patient
behandeln
to treat
die Ärztin
the doctor
Questions & Answers about In der Klinik behandelt eine junge Ärztin jeden Patienten sehr freundlich.
Why is it In der Klinik instead of In das Klinik, and what case is Klinik here?
The preposition in can take either accusative or dative depending on whether you express movement (accusative) or location (dative). Here it’s about being located in the clinic, so you need the dative case. Die Klinik is feminine, and its dative singular article is der, so you say in der Klinik.
Why does the verb behandelt come before the subject eine junge Ärztin and not after?
German main clauses follow the “verb‐second” (V2) rule: the finite verb must occupy the second position in the sentence. If you start with a prepositional phrase (In der Klinik), that counts as position one, so behandelt moves into position two, and the subject (eine junge Ärztin) comes in position three.
Why is eine junge Ärztin in the nominative case, while jeden Patienten is in the accusative?
In German, the subject of a sentence takes the nominative case; here the subject is eine junge Ärztin (a young doctor). The direct object (the person receiving the action) takes the accusative case; here that’s jeden Patienten (every patient). That’s why you see nominative on the doctor and accusative on the patient.
Why does the adjective jung change to junge in eine junge Ärztin, but freundlich has no ending in sehr freundlich?
In eine junge Ärztin, jung is a typical attributive adjective modifying a noun and follows weak declension after the article eine, so it takes the ending -e. In sehr freundlich, freundlich is used adverbially (it describes how she treats patients, i.e. it modifies the verb), and adverbs in German are not inflected, so no ending is added.
Why is jeden used instead of ein or der before Patienten?
Jeden comes from the strong declension of jeder (every). Since Patient is masculine and it’s in the accusative singular (direct object), jeder becomes jeden. You can’t use ein (one) because that would mean “one patient,” nor der (the) because that would be “the patient” instead of “every patient.”
What is the function of sehr in sehr freundlich?
Sehr is an intensifier adverb that modifies another adverb or adjective. Here it strengthens freundlich, so it means “very friendly.”
What does the -in ending in Ärztin indicate?
The suffix -in marks the feminine form of many German profession nouns. Arzt (male doctor) → Ärztin (female doctor).
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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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