Breakdown of Ihr Blick war komisch, doch sie blieb freundlich.
sein
to be
bleiben
to remain
sie
she
freundlich
friendly
Questions & Answers about Ihr Blick war komisch, doch sie blieb freundlich.
Does Ihr here mean her, their, or your (formal)?
Because the second clause has sie blieb with a singular verb (blieb), sie must be she. That makes sentence-initial Ihr = her (her look/gaze). The capital I does not prove it’s formal your; it’s capitalized simply because it’s the first word of the sentence. Outside sentence-initial position, Ihr (capital I) would be formal your; ihr (lowercase) can be her/their depending on context.
Why is it ihr Blick and not ihren Blick?
Blick is the subject and is in the nominative case, so the possessive determiner stays uninflected in masculine nominative: ihr Blick. You’d use ihren Blick for masculine accusative: Ich sah ihren Blick. Quick patterns:
- Masculine nom: ihr Blick
- Masculine acc: ihren Blick
- Feminine nom/acc: ihre Hand
- Neuter nom/acc: ihr Kind
- Plural nom/acc: ihre Augen
What exactly does Blick mean here?
Blick is the look/gaze, often the look in someone’s eyes. It’s less about the whole face and more about the eyes/direction of looking. If you want the full facial expression, say Gesichtsausdruck: Ihr Gesichtsausdruck war …