Breakdown of Ein technisches Problem macht mich nervös.
machen
to make
nervös
nervous
mich
me
das Problem
the problem
Questions & Answers about Ein technisches Problem macht mich nervös.
Why is Problem capitalized while technisches and nervös are not?
In German all nouns are capitalized, regardless of their position in the sentence. Adjectives and other parts of speech remain lower-case (unless they start a sentence). Here Problem is a noun, so it gets a capital letter; technisches and nervös are adjectives, so they stay lower-case.
Why does technisches end in -es?
technisches is an attributive adjective modifying Problem, which is a neuter noun in the nominative singular. After an ein-word, adjectives follow the mixed-declension pattern and take -es for neuter nominative singular:
- Gender: neuter
- Case: nominative (subject)
- Number: singular
Hence: ein → technisches → Problem.
What case is ein technisches Problem in, and how can I tell?
It’s in the nominative case because it functions as the subject of the sentence (the “doer” of the action). In a simple German main clause, the subject normally comes before the verb: Subject (Ein technisches Problem) – Verb (macht) – Objects.
Why is the article ein used, and what would change if I used das instead?