Word
Der Fehler liegt in der letzten Zeile.
Meaning
The error is in the last line.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Der Fehler liegt in der letzten Zeile.
in
in
liegen
to lie
der
the; (feminine, dative)
letzte
last
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 ? How does word order change?