Breakdown of Kinder verdienen Geduld und Respekt.
das Kind
the child
und
and
die Geduld
the patience
der Respekt
the respect
Questions & Answers about Kinder verdienen Geduld und Respekt.
Why is Kinder capitalized, and what form of the noun is it?
In German, all nouns are capitalized, no matter where they appear in the sentence. So Kinder is capitalized simply because it is a noun.
Kinder is the plural of Kind (das Kind = child).
- Singular: das Kind
- Plural: die Kinder
In this sentence, Kinder is in the nominative plural (it is the subject of the sentence).
Why is there no article before Kinder? Why not Die Kinder verdienen…?
German often omits the article with plural nouns when making a general statement about a group.
- Kinder verdienen Geduld und Respekt.
→ children in general, all children
By comparison:
- 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.