Breakdown of Der Geruch von frischem Brot macht mich sofort hungrig.
Questions & Answers about Der Geruch von frischem Brot macht mich sofort hungrig.
Because the preposition von always takes the dative case.
- Brot is a neuter noun: das Brot.
- Dative singular neuter ending on an adjective is -em.
- In a prepositional phrase with von and no article, the adjective takes the strong dative ending: frisch → frischem.
So:
- von frischem Brot = of fresh bread (correct: dative)
- von frisches Brot uses frisches (accusative nominative ending), which is wrong after von.
Because the verb structure is jemanden (Akkusativ) hungrig machen – to make someone hungry.
In German:
- mich = accusative (direct object) of ich
- mir = dative (indirect object) of ich
Here, mich is the direct object of macht:
- Der Geruch … macht mich hungrig.
→ The smell … makes me hungry.
If you used mir, it would suggest a different pattern (with dative) that doesn’t fit this verb + object + adjective construction.
Mich is in the accusative case.
Sentence structure:
- Der Geruch von frischem Brot – subject (nominative)
- macht – verb
- mich – direct object (accusative)
- sofort hungrig – object complement (saying how I am made)
So grammatically:
[Subject] macht [Akkusativobjekt] [Adjektiv]
= X makes Y [adjective]
In this pattern German uses an adjective, not a noun:
- jemanden hungrig machen = to make someone hungry
Using a noun like Hunger would need a different verb:
- Ich bekomme Hunger. – I get hungry / I’m getting hungry.
- Der Geruch von frischem Brot macht, dass ich Hunger bekomme. (grammatical but clumsy)
Macht mich Hunger is ungrammatical. After machen in this sense, you want:
- macht mich hungrig / nervös / glücklich / müde, etc.
Because Geruch is grammatically masculine in German: der Geruch.
There is no simple rule from the meaning or ending here; you just have to learn the gender with the noun:
- der Geruch – the smell (masculine)
- der Duft – the fragrance (masculine)
- der Lärm – the noise (masculine)
In the sentence, Der Geruch is also the subject, so it appears in nominative:
- Der Geruch … macht mich …
Yes, both are possible, but there is a nuance:
- Der Geruch von frischem Brot
Literally: the smell of fresh bread → focuses more on origin/source. - Der Geruch nach frischem Brot
Literally: the smell like fresh bread / that smells of fresh bread → focuses more on what it smells like (resemblance).
In many everyday contexts, they are interchangeable, and both are natural:
- Der Geruch von Kaffee / Der Geruch nach Kaffee – the smell of coffee.
Your full sentence works with either:
- Der Geruch von frischem Brot macht mich sofort hungrig.
- Der Geruch nach frischem Brot macht mich sofort hungrig.
Because when there is no article, the adjective carries the full (strong) ending that normally would be on the article.
Pattern for neuter, dative, singular:
- With article: von dem frischen Brot
→ article dem shows dative; adjective has weak ending -en. - Without article: von frischem Brot
→ no article, so adjective has strong dative ending -em.
So frischem is marking:
- neuter
- singular
- dative
All triggered by von + Brot + no article.
No, that would be ungrammatical.
Reason:
- von always takes dative, so both the noun (if it had an article) and the adjective must be in dative.
- frisches is nominative/accusative neuter, not dative.
Correct forms:
- von frischem Brot (no article, dative adjective: -em)
- von dem frischen Brot (article dem
- adjective frischen)
Sofort is quite flexible, but some positions sound more natural than others.
In your sentence, good options are:
- Der Geruch von frischem Brot macht mich sofort hungrig. (very natural)
- Der Geruch von frischem Brot macht mich hungrig, sofort. (more emphatic, almost like adding “immediately, I mean.”)
These sound unnatural:
- Der Geruch von frischem Brot macht sofort mich hungrig. (adverb before pronoun object is odd here)
- Der Geruch von frischem Brot macht mich hungrig sofort. (possible in speech with strong emphasis, but unusual as a neutral sentence)
Neutral rule of thumb: put sofort near the verb phrase, usually before the adjective:
macht mich sofort hungrig.
Because frischem stands before a noun and must show case, gender, and number.
- von frischem Brot
→ adjective before a noun (Brot) → it must take a case ending (-em).
Hungrig is a predicate adjective, describing the object mich after the verb:
- macht mich hungrig
→ adjective after a verb, not directly before a noun → no case ending.
Same pattern:
- Sie macht mich glücklich.
- Das Essen macht ihn müde.
Yes, but there’s a nuance:
- sofort – immediately, right away (fairly neutral, very common)
- gleich – also right away / in a moment, but can sometimes mean soon, in a bit, depending on context
In this sentence:
Der Geruch von frischem Brot macht mich gleich hungrig.
is understandable and often used in spoken German, but sofort is clearer for immediately.
The sentence is in standard German main-clause word order:
- Der Geruch von frischem Brot – Subject (field before the verb)
- macht – Finite verb in position 2
- mich – Accusative object
- sofort hungrig – Adverb + predicate adjective
Abstract pattern:
- [Subject] [Verb] [Object] [Adverb] [Predicate adjective]
- Der Geruch von frischem Brot macht mich sofort hungrig.
The key rule: the conjugated verb (macht) is always in second position in a main clause, regardless of how long the subject phrase is.
Yes, a small difference in nuance:
- Geruch – neutral smell, can be good or bad.
- Duft – usually pleasant smell, like fragrance, aroma.
So:
- Der Geruch von frischem Brot – the smell of fresh bread (neutral, but in context obviously positive).
- Der Duft von frischem Brot – the delicious aroma of fresh bread (more clearly positive/pleasant).
Both are grammatical in your sentence; Duft just sounds more “romantic” or appreciative.