Breakdown of Der Fehler liegt in der letzten Zeile.
in
in
liegen
to lie
der
the; (feminine, dative)
letzte
last
die Zeile
the line
der Fehler
the error
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Questions & Answers about Der Fehler liegt in der letzten Zeile.
Why is the verb liegt used instead of ist here?
In German, liegen is commonly used to indicate that something “lies” in a certain place—whether physically or figuratively. Saying Der Fehler liegt in der letzten Zeile highlights the location of the mistake. You could say Der Fehler ist in der letzten Zeile, but liegen is more precise when describing where something is situated.
Why does in take the dative case (der letzten Zeile) instead of accusative?
In is a two-way (Wechsel) preposition in German. When you answer wo? (where?), you must use the dative. Here you’re stating the location of the error, so you use dative: der letzten Zeile.
How do you decline letzten in in der letzten Zeile?
You have the feminine singular noun Zeile. After the definite article in dative (der), the adjective ending is -en. Hence in der letzten Zeile (dative feminine singular).
What case and gender is Fehler in Der Fehler liegt…?
Fehler is masculine. Since it’s the subject of the sentence, it takes the nominative case. The definite article for masculine nominative singular is der, giving Der Fehler.
Can you invert the sentence to start with In der letzten Zeile? How does word order change?
Yes. German is verb-second (V2). You can say: In der letzten Zeile liegt der Fehler. Here In der letzten Zeile is fronted (position 1), liegt remains in position 2, and der Fehler follows.
What does Zeile mean?
Zeile (feminine noun) means line, usually referring to a line of text in a document, a paragraph, or computer code.
Could you say Ein Fehler instead of Der Fehler?
Yes, but that changes definiteness. Ein Fehler liegt in der letzten Zeile means A mistake lies in the last line, implying one of possibly several errors. Der Fehler specifies a particular known mistake.
Why can’t you drop the article and say Fehler liegt in letzter Zeile?
German generally requires an article or determiner with singular countable nouns. Without der or ein, the sentence would sound unnatural or grammatically incorrect. You need Der Fehler or Ein Fehler.