Learn Hardcore German: Kinder verdienen Geduld und Respekt. - Children deserve patience and respect.

Die Kinder verdienen Geduld und Respekt.
→ often understood as a specific group of children already known from context (e.g. the children in this class, the children we’re talking about).
It can also be generic in some contexts, but it sounds less purely general than the “no article” version.

There is no indefinite article in the plural in German, so for an indefinite, general plural you simply use no article:

Kinder, Menschen, Eltern, etc.

Which words are the subject and the object here? What cases are being used?

The structure is straightforward Subject – Verb – Object(s).

Kinder = subject, nominative plural
→ Who deserves something? Children.
verdienen = verb, present tense, 3rd person plural
Geduld und Respekt = direct objects, accusative singular each
→ What do they deserve? Patience and respect.

If you added definite articles, you would see the cases more clearly:

Die Kinder (nom.) verdienen die Geduld und den Respekt (acc.) ihrer Eltern.

Here die Kinder is nominative plural, while die Geduld (feminine) keeps die in the accusative, and der Respekt (masculine) changes to den Respekt in the accusative.

What exactly does verdienen mean here, and how is it conjugated?

verdienen has two main meanings:

to earn (money, a reward)
- Ich verdiene Geld. – I earn money.
to deserve (morally, by right)
- Kinder verdienen Geduld und Respekt. – Children deserve patience and respect.

In your sentence it clearly has the “to deserve” meaning.

Conjugation (present tense):

ich verdiene
du verdienst
er/sie/es verdient
wir verdienen
ihr verdient
sie / Sie verdienen

The subject is Kinder (3rd person plural), so you use verdienen.

Why are Geduld and Respekt also used without articles?

Geduld (patience) and Respekt (respect) are abstract, uncountable-like nouns.
In German, such nouns often appear without an article when you talk about them in general:

Kinder brauchen Liebe. – Children need love.
Menschen zeigen Mut. – People show courage.
Kinder verdienen Geduld und Respekt. – Children deserve patience and respect.

If you add an article, you usually make it more specific:

Kinder verdienen die Geduld und den Respekt ihrer Eltern.
→ not just any patience and respect, but specifically that of their parents.

So the zero article here makes Geduld and Respekt feel general and abstract, just like in English “patience and respect” (not “the patience and the respect”).

What grammatical gender do Geduld and Respekt have?

die Geduld – feminine (singular only in practice)
der Respekt – masculine

You can see this in a version of the sentence with definite articles:

Kinder verdienen die Geduld und den Respekt ihrer Lehrer.

Here:

die Geduld → feminine, accusative (same form as nominative)
den Respekt → masculine, accusative (article der changes to den)

The gender doesn’t show in the original sentence because there are no articles and no adjective endings.

Can I change the word order to Geduld und Respekt verdienen Kinder?

Yes, that word order is grammatically correct. German allows relatively flexible word order as long as the conjugated verb stays in the second position in a main clause.

Kinder verdienen Geduld und Respekt. (neutral, most common)
Geduld und Respekt verdienen Kinder. (more emphatic / stylistic)

The second version puts Geduld und Respekt in the focus position at the start of the sentence. It would typically be used for emphasis, for example in a speech or written text where you want to highlight what children deserve.

In everyday, neutral speech, Kinder verdienen Geduld und Respekt is more natural.

How would the sentence change if I talk about one child instead of children?

You mainly change the subject to singular and adjust the verb to 3rd person singular:

Ein Kind verdient Geduld und Respekt.
– A child deserves patience and respect.

Other common variants:

Jedes Kind verdient Geduld und Respekt.
– Every child deserves patience and respect.

Notice:

Kind is singular, so the verb becomes verdient (not verdienen).
The objects Geduld and Respekt stay the same.

How do you pronounce Kinder, verdienen, Geduld, and Respekt?

Approximate pronunciations (using English-like hints):

Kinder → KIN-der
- Kin like English kin
- der with a light “uh/er” sound at the end, not a strong English r
verdienen → fehr-DEE-nen
- v is pronounced like f in German
- ver- roughly fehr-, very short feh and a light r
- die is like English dee (long “ee”)
- final -nen like nen in linen
Geduld → guh-DULT
- Ge- like guh-
- duld rhymes roughly with cult (but with a shorter u as in pull)
Respekt → re-SPEKT
- Re- like reh (short e, as in red)
- spekt exactly like English specked

In IPA:

Kinder: [ˈkɪndɐ]
verdienen: [fɛɐ̯ˈdiːnən]
Geduld: [ɡəˈdʊlt]
Respekt: [ʁeˈspɛkt]

Are there adjective forms related to Geduld and Respekt?

Yes:

from Geduld → geduldig = patient
- Er ist sehr geduldig. – He is very patient.
from Respekt → respektvoll = respectful
- Sie spricht sehr respektvoll mit Kindern. – She speaks very respectfully to children.

You cannot simply say:

✗ Kinder verdienen geduldig und respektvoll.

That would sound like “Children deserve patient and respectful” — but adjectives need a noun to describe, or a verb structure to attach to (e.g. to be respectful).

You could say, for example:

Kinder verdienen es, geduldig und respektvoll behandelt zu werden.
– Children deserve to be treated patiently and respectfully.

Here geduldig and respektvoll describe “treated”, not “children”.