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Der Nachbar vermietet seine Wohnung.

Der Nachbar vermietet seine Wohnung.
The neighbor rents out his apartment.
FromLesson 58inHardcore German

Questions & Answers about Der Nachbar vermietet seine Wohnung.

Why is it Der and not Den or Dem?

Because Der Nachbar is the subject in the nominative case. For a masculine noun:

What’s the difference between mieten and vermieten?
  • mieten = to rent (as a tenant): Ich miete eine Wohnung.
  • vermieten = to rent out/let (as a landlord/owner): Ich vermiete meine Wohnung. The sentence uses the landlord/owner perspective.
What case is seine Wohnung, and why seine (not seinen or seiner)?

It’s the direct object, so accusative. Wohnung is feminine; feminine accusative takes the ending -e on the possessive: seine Wohnung.

  • Masculine accusative would be seinen (e.g., seinen Wagen).
  • Dative feminine would be seiner (e.g., in seiner Wohnung).
Who does seine refer to? What if the neighbor is female?

Here, seine refers back to the (male) Nachbar. If the subject were female (die Nachbarin), you’d say ihre Wohnung.
Note: sein- is used for masculine/neuter possessors; ihr- for feminine/plural possessors. The ending (e/en/er/es) agrees with the possessed noun’s gender/case/number.

How is Nachbar declined? I’ve heard it’s a weak noun.

Correct—Nachbar is a weak (n-) noun: it adds -n/-en in all cases except nominative singular.

  • Singular: N der Nachbar, G des Nachbarn, D dem Nachbarn, A den Nachbarn
  • Plural: N die Nachbarn, G der Nachbarn, D den Nachbarn, A die Nachbarn
Is vermieten separable? How does it behave in the perfect and in subclauses?

vermieten has the inseparable prefix ver-.

How do I say who the apartment is rented to?

Use either pattern:

  • etwas an jemanden (Akk.) vermieten: Der Nachbar vermietet seine Wohnung an Studenten.
  • jemandem (Dat.) etwas vermieten: Der Nachbar vermietet Studenten seine Wohnung.
How do I negate this naturally?
  • Neutral whole-sentence negation: Der Nachbar vermietet seine Wohnung nicht.
  • If you mean “He rents out no apartment (at all),” use kein: Der Nachbar vermietet keine Wohnung.
  • Contrastive focus (“not his apartment but …”): Der Nachbar vermietet nicht seine Wohnung, sondern …
How would I say it in other tenses (past/future)?
  • Present: … vermietet …
  • Perfect (spoken past): … hat … vermietet.
  • Simple past (written style): … vermietete …
  • Future: … wird … vermieten.
  • Future perfect: … wird … vermietet haben.
Can I change the word order for emphasis or with adverbs?

Yes, keep the finite verb in 2nd position:

  • Adverb first: Heute vermietet der Nachbar seine Wohnung.
  • Object first (emphasis): Seine Wohnung vermietet der Nachbar.
  • Subclause: …, weil der Nachbar seine Wohnung vermietet.
Is Wohnung “apartment” or “house”? How does it differ from Haus?

Wohnung = an apartment/flat (a unit inside a building).
Haus = a house/building. You rent out a Wohnung inside a Haus.

Why are Nachbar and Wohnung capitalized?
All German nouns are capitalized. Verbs like vermieten are lowercased. Also, nouns ending in -ung (like Wohnung) are almost always feminine.
What related words should I know (Miete, Mieter, Vermieter)?
  • die Miete = the rent (payment)
  • der Mieter / die Mieterin = tenant
  • der Vermieter / die Vermieterin = landlord/landlady All are built from mieten/vermieten.
How does it change with plural neighbors?
  • Shared single apartment: Die Nachbarn vermieten ihre Wohnung.
  • Each their own apartment(s): Die Nachbarn vermieten ihre Wohnungen. Note the possessive ihre for plural possessors.
How do I say “sublet” exactly?

Use untervermieten (inseparable):

  • Present: Er untervermietet sein Zimmer.
  • Perfect: Er hat sein Zimmer untervermietet.
I sometimes hear den Nachbar as a subject. Is that ever correct?
In standard German, the nominative is der Nachbar. Forms like den Nachbar as a subject occur in some regional varieties (e.g., parts of southern Germany/Austria), but they’re nonstandard.
AI Language TutorTry it ↗
“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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