In diesem Stück spielt meine Schwester eine wichtige Rolle.

In this play my sister plays an important role.

Breakdown of In diesem Stück spielt meine Schwester eine wichtige Rolle.

• spielen: to play
• in: in
• meine: my
• die Schwester: the sister
• wichtig: important
• eine: a; (feminine, accusative)
• das Stück: the play
• die Rolle: the role
• diesem: this; (neuter, dative)

Questions & Answers about In diesem Stück spielt meine Schwester eine wichtige Rolle.

Why is it In diesem Stück and not In dieses Stück?

German in is a “two-way preposition”:

• with dative = location (where?)
• with accusative = movement (into where?)

Here the meaning is “in this play (as a setting),” a static location → use dative.

• Nominative/accusative neuter of dieses Stück → dieses Stück
• Dative neuter → diesem Stück

So:

• In diesem Stück = in this play (within it, as the setting) ✅
• In dieses Stück would suggest movement into the play, which doesn’t make sense here ❌

What case is meine Schwester, and why?

meine Schwester is in the nominative case, because it is the subject of the sentence – the one doing the action.

• Wer spielt? (Who is acting/playing?) → meine Schwester
  So it must be nominative: meine Schwester, not meiner Schwester or meine Schwester in another case.

Why is the verb spielt in second position even though the sentence starts with In diesem Stück?

In a normal main clause, German likes Verb in 2nd position (the V2 rule).
“Second” means: second element, not second word.

Here, element order is:

1. In diesem Stück – prepositional phrase (counts as 1 element)
2. spielt – the finite verb
3. meine Schwester – subject
4. eine wichtige Rolle – object

So the verb is still in the required second position, even though the sentence doesn’t start with the subject.

Can I also say Meine Schwester spielt in diesem Stück eine wichtige Rolle? Is there any difference?

Yes, that word order is perfectly correct:

• Meine Schwester spielt in diesem Stück eine wichtige Rolle.

The meaning is essentially the same. The difference is emphasis/order of information:

• In diesem Stück spielt meine Schwester eine wichtige Rolle.
  → First highlight “in this play” (context), then what happens there.
• Meine Schwester spielt in diesem Stück eine wichtige Rolle.
  → First highlight “my sister”, then say what she does and where.

Both are natural; choice depends on what you want to emphasize or what was mentioned before.

Why is it eine wichtige Rolle and not ein wichtige Rolle or eine wichtigen Rolle?

This is about gender, case, and adjective endings:

1. Rolle is feminine: die Rolle.
2. Here it’s the direct object of spielt, so it is accusative singular feminine.
3. With eine (indefinite article, feminine accusative) + adjective + noun, the adjective ending is -e.

Pattern:

• eine
  • adjective + feminine noun (nom./acc. sg.) → adjective takes -e.

So:

• eine wichtige Rolle ✅
  not:
• ein wichtige Rolle ❌ (wrong article form)
• eine wichtigen Rolle ❌ (wrong adjective ending here)

What are the genders of Stück, Schwester, and Rolle, and how can I tell?

The genders are:

• Stück → neuter → das Stück
• Schwester → feminine → die Schwester
• Rolle → feminine → die Rolle

Unfortunately, German noun gender is mostly something you have to learn with each word. A few hints:

• Many words for female persons are feminine: die Schwester, die Mutter, die Lehrerin.
• Words ending in -e are often feminine, e.g. die Rolle, die Lampe, die Schule (many exceptions exist).
• Short, one-syllable concrete nouns can be any gender and must usually just be memorized: das Stück, der Tisch, die Wand.

Why is it meine Schwester and not mein Schwester?

The possessive mein- must agree with the gender, number, and case of the noun:

• Schwester is feminine (die Schwester).
• Here it is nominative singular, because it’s the subject.

Nominative singular:

• masculine: mein Bruder
• neuter: mein Kind
• feminine: meine Schwester

So we need meine Schwester.

Why is the verb spielen used here? Does spielt mean “acts” as well as “plays”?

Yes. German spielen covers several meanings of English “play”:

1. To act a role in a play/film
   
   • Sie spielt die Hauptrolle. – She plays the main part.
2. To play a game or sport
   
   • Er spielt Fußball. – He plays football.
3. To play an instrument
   
   • Ich spiele Klavier. – I play the piano.

In this sentence, spielt … eine wichtige Rolle = “plays an important role / has an important role in the play.” It can mean literally acting in a play, or more abstractly being very important in some situation.

Is eine wichtige Rolle spielen a fixed expression in German?

Yes, eine wichtige Rolle spielen is a very common expression meaning “to play an important role / to be important in something.”

Examples:

• Die Umwelt spielt eine wichtige Rolle in der Politik.
  The environment plays an important role in politics.

• Geld spielt in seinem Leben keine große Rolle.
  Money doesn’t play a big role in his life.

So in your sentence, the phrase eine wichtige Rolle spielen works as a standard idiomatic chunk.

What other meanings does Stück have? Does it always mean a “play”?

Stück is quite flexible. Common meanings:

1. Theatrical play / musical piece

   • ein Theaterstück – a play
   • ein Musikstück – a piece of music
     In your sentence, Stück by itself = a (theatre) play, often clear from context.

2. Piece / bit / item (a piece of something, a single item)

   • ein Stück Kuchen – a piece of cake
   • drei Stück – three pieces/items

So context decides whether Stück is “play,” “piece (of music),” or just “piece.”

How do you pronounce Stück, spielt, Schwester, and Rolle?

Some key points:

• Stück

  • St at the beginning in standard German is pronounced like “sht”.
  • ü is a front rounded vowel, similar to French u in lune.
  • Rough guide: [ʃtʏk], something like “shtük.”

• spielt

  • Initial sp → “shp” in standard German.
  • ie → long “ee” sound.
  • Rough guide: [ʃpiːlt], like “shpeelt.”

• Schwester

  • Sch → “sh”.
  • Stress is on the first syllable: SCHWE-ster.
  • Rough guide: [ˈʃvɛstɐ].

• Rolle

  • Short o, like in “rock.”
  • ll is a clear, single l sound, not long as in some English accents.
  • e at the end is a little unstressed “uh”.
  • Rough guide: [ˈʁɔlə], something like “RO-luh.”

What cases are used in the whole sentence, and what determines them?

Breakdown by phrase:

1. In diesem Stück

   • in (location, not movement) → dative.
   • diesem = dative singular neuter of dieses (this).
   • Stück is neuter, so: in diesem Stück.

2. spielt

   • Verb; doesn’t by itself force a particular case on the subject (subject is always nominative).

3. meine Schwester

   • Subject → nominative.
   • Feminine nominative singular → meine Schwester.

4. eine wichtige Rolle

   • Direct object of spielt → accusative.
   • Feminine accusative singular → eine wichtige Rolle.

So the sentence uses dative (location), nominative (subject), and accusative (direct object).

How would the sentence look in the past tense or with a modal verb? Does the word order change?

Yes, the word order changes in the verb cluster, but the basic structure remains.

1. Simple past (Präteritum) of spielen:

   • In diesem Stück spielte meine Schwester eine wichtige Rolle.

2. Present with a modal verb, e.g. können:

   • In diesem Stück kann meine Schwester eine wichtige Rolle spielen.
     Here:
   • finite verb (kann) in 2nd position,
   • spielen (infinitive) goes to the end.

3. Perfect tense (with haben):

   • In diesem Stück hat meine Schwester eine wichtige Rolle gespielt.

In all cases, in a main clause, the finite verb (spielt / spielte / kann / hat) stays in second position. The non-finite verb forms (spielen / gespielt) move to the end of the clause.