Die Bäuerin verkauft frisches Gemüse im Dorf.

The female farmer sells fresh vegetables in the village.

Breakdown of Die Bäuerin verkauft frisches Gemüse im Dorf.

• in: in
• dem: the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
• frisch: fresh
• verkaufen: to sell
• das Gemüse: the vegetable
• das Dorf: the village
• die Bäuerin: the female farmer

Questions & Answers about Die Bäuerin verkauft frisches Gemüse im Dorf.

Why is it die Bäuerin and not der Bauer?

German marks grammatical gender and also distinguishes male and female job titles.

• der Bauer = male farmer
• die Bäuerin = female farmer

The ending -in is the regular way to form a feminine version of a masculine noun:

• der Lehrer → die Lehrerin (teacher)
• der Arzt → die Ärztin (doctor)

Here the subject is a woman, so German uses die Bäuerin.

Why does Bäuerin have an umlaut (äu) instead of au like in Bauer?

The feminine form Bäuerin is historically derived from Bauer, and the vowel changes when the -in ending is added.

• Bauer (no umlaut) → Bäuerin (with umlaut äu)

This vowel change (umlaut) happens in quite a few masculine–feminine pairs:

• der Arzt → die Ärztin
• der Gast → die Gästin (rare, but same pattern)

In pronunciation, äu is spoken like the oy in English boy.

Why is the article die used with Bäuerin?

Die is the definite article for:

• Feminine singular nouns in the nominative case
• All plural nouns (in all cases)

In this sentence, die Bäuerin is:

• Singular
• Feminine
• The subject of the sentence → nominative case

So the correct form is die Bäuerin, not der or das.

What tense is verkauft, and what does it tell us?

Verkauft is the 3rd person singular present tense of verkaufen (to sell):

• ich verkaufe
• du verkaufst
• er/sie/es verkauft

In German, the present tense can mean:

• Something happening right now
• A regular / habitual action

Context decides whether it is “sells” (habitually) or “is selling” (right now).

Why is Gemüse capitalized?

In German, all nouns are capitalized, no matter where they appear in the sentence.

• Gemüse is a noun, so it must start with a capital G.
• The same is true for Dorf, Bäuerin, Kind, Haus, etc.

Why is Gemüse neuter, and how do we know?

The grammatical gender of Gemüse is neuter: das Gemüse.

Unfortunately, there is no completely reliable rule here. For many nouns (especially abstract or non-living things), you simply have to learn the gender together with the word:

• das Gemüse (neuter)
• die Milch (feminine)
• der Käse (masculine)

Dictionaries and vocabulary lists always show nouns with their article for this reason.

Why is the adjective frisch written as frisches before Gemüse?

Adjectives in German change their ending depending on:

1. The case (nominative/accusative/etc.)
2. The gender and number of the noun
3. Whether there is a determiner (article, like ein, der, etc.) before them

Here:

• Gemüse is neuter singular
• It is the direct object → accusative case
• There is no article before it (not ein, not das)

With no article and neuter accusative singular, the adjective takes the strong ending -es:

• frisches Gemüse

Compare:

• das frische Gemüse (with definite article)
• ein frisches Gemüse (with indefinite article)
• frisches Gemüse (no article, as in the sentence)

Why is Gemüse in the accusative case here?

Gemüse is the thing being sold, so it is the direct object of the verb verkaufen.

German:

• Subject (who does it?) → nominative
• Direct object (what is affected?) → accusative

In this sentence:

• die Bäuerin = subject → nominative
• frisches Gemüse = direct object → accusative

So Gemüse is in the accusative case.

Why is it im Dorf and not in das Dorf?

Im is a contraction of in dem:

• in
  • dem → im

Dem is the dative form of the neuter article das:

• Nominative: das Dorf
• Dative: dem Dorf → im Dorf

We use in + dative when it expresses location (where something happens):

• im Dorf = in the village (at that place)

We would use in + accusative for direction / movement (into something):

• in das Dorf gehen = to go into the village

Why is Dorf dative here?

In can take either accusative or dative, depending on meaning:

• in
  • accusative → movement into (where to?)
• in
  • dative → location (where?)

The sentence talks about where the selling happens (location), not movement into the village. So Dorf must be in the dative:

• im Dorf = in dem Dorf (dative)

Can the word order be Die Bäuerin verkauft im Dorf frisches Gemüse instead?

Yes, that word order is also correct.

Neutral/basic order in German is often:

• Subject – Verb – Object – (Other info, like place/time)

But you can move the place phrase for emphasis or style:

• Die Bäuerin verkauft frisches Gemüse im Dorf. (default focus on what she sells)
• Die Bäuerin verkauft im Dorf frisches Gemüse. (slight focus on where she sells)

The important rule is: in a simple main clause, the conjugated verb stays in 2nd position.

Could we drop the adjective and just say Die Bäuerin verkauft Gemüse im Dorf?

Yes, that is perfectly correct.

• Gemüse alone means vegetables in general.
• frisches Gemüse emphasizes that the vegetables are fresh.

So both are grammatically correct; the sentence without frisches just gives less detail.

Why is it frisches Gemüse and not frische Gemüse?

Usually, Gemüse is treated as a mass noun (like “milk” or “bread”), not as a countable plural like vegetables.

As a mass noun, it is neuter singular, so the adjective must agree with neuter singular:

• Neuter accusative singular, no article → frisches Gemüse

Frische Gemüse would treat Gemüse as a plural count noun (die Gemüse), which is rare and sounds technical or unusual (e.g. in some recipes or agricultural contexts). In everyday language you almost always say frisches Gemüse.

What are the plural forms of Bäuerin and Dorf? What about Gemüse?

• die Bäuerin → die Bäuerinnen (plural feminine)
• das Dorf → die Dörfer (note the umlaut and -er plural)
• das Gemüse → usually has no separate plural form; it is typically a mass noun.

If you need to talk clearly about different kinds, you can say:

• Gemüsesorten (types of vegetables)
• verschiedene Gemüse (various vegetables – more formal/technical)

How do you pronounce Bäuerin, Gemüse, and Dorf?

Approximate pronunciations:

• Bäuerin → [BOY-er-in]

  • Bäu like English boy
  • -er- like English air but shorter
  • stress on the first syllable: BÄU-er-in

• Gemüse → [geh-MYOO-zeh]

  • Ge- like geh
  • -mü- like myoo with rounded lips
  • final -se like zeh
  • stress on the second syllable: ge-MÜ-se

• Dorf → [dorf]

  • vowel like English or in port, but shorter
  • final f is pronounced clearly

(These are rough English approximations; IPA: Bäuerin [ˈbɔʏ̯əʁɪn], Gemüse [ɡəˈmyːzə], Dorf [dɔʁf].)