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Breakdown of Der Ticketautomat am Bahnhof funktioniert nicht.
dem
the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
nicht
not
funktionieren
to work
der Bahnhof
the train station
an
at
der Ticketautomat
the ticket machine
Questions & Answers about Der Ticketautomat am Bahnhof funktioniert nicht.
Why is the article der used with Ticketautomat, not das?
In German, every noun has a grammatical gender. The noun Automat is masculine (der Automat), so any compound noun ending in Automat (like Ticketautomat) inherits that masculine gender. Hence der Ticketautomat.
Why is Ticketautomat written as one word and capitalized?
German compounds combine all parts into a single word (no spaces or hyphens). Additionally, all German nouns are capitalized, so Ticket + Automat becomes the single capitalized noun Ticketautomat.
What does am Bahnhof mean, and why do we use am?
am is the contracted form of an dem. Here an is the preposition “at” indicating location, and dem is the dative masculine article for Bahnhof. So am Bahnhof literally means “at the train station.”
What case is Bahnhof in, and why?
Because this phrase expresses a static location (“at the station”), German uses the dative case after an. Thus dem Bahnhof (dative) contracts to am Bahnhof.
Why is nicht placed at the end of the sentence?
German typically positions nicht immediately before the element it negates. When you want to negate the entire verb phrase (here, “functions”), nicht usually goes at the end of the main clause: funktioniert nicht.
Why do we use nicht instead of kein?
kein negates a noun (“no ticket machine”), whereas nicht negates verbs or full clauses (“does not work”). Since the sentence means “the machine is not functioning” (not “there is no machine”), nicht is the correct choice.
What does funktioniert mean, and how is it used?
funktionieren is an intransitive verb meaning “to function” or “to work” (referring to machines or systems). funktioniert is the third-person singular present tense form (“functions/works”). It describes the current operational status of the machine.
How would you turn this statement into a yes/no question?
Invert the finite verb and the subject:
Funktioniert der Ticketautomat am Bahnhof nicht?
(If you simply want to ask “Does it work?” drop nicht:
Funktioniert der Ticketautomat am Bahnhof?)
More from this lesson
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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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