Breakdown of Die Apothekerin lächelt freundlich in der Apotheke.
Questions & Answers about Die Apothekerin lächelt freundlich in der Apotheke.
German has grammatical gender, and many professions have a masculine and a feminine form:
- der Apotheker = (male) pharmacist
- die Apothekerin = (female) pharmacist
The ending -in is the usual feminine ending for professions and many other roles.
Because Apothekerin is grammatically feminine, its nominative singular article is die: die Apothekerin.
Die Apothekerin is the subject of the sentence:
- Wer lächelt? (Who is smiling?) → Die Apothekerin.
Because it is the subject, it is in the nominative case: die Apothekerin (not der/dem/den Apothekerin).
The verb is lächeln (to smile). In the present tense, it’s conjugated like this:
- ich lächle / lächele
- du lächelst
- er/sie/es lächelt
- wir lächeln
- ihr lächelt
- sie lächeln
The subject is die Apothekerin, which is sie (she), so you need the 3rd person singular form: sie lächelt → Die Apothekerin lächelt …
- lächeln = to smile (without sound, or very quietly)
- lachen = to laugh (with sound, more intense)
So:
- Die Apothekerin lächelt → She is smiling.
- Die Apothekerin lacht → She is laughing.
In this sentence, it’s about a friendly smile, not laughing out loud.
freundlich here describes how she is smiling → it functions as an adverb, not as an adjective before a noun.
As an adverb, freundlich does not get any ending:
- Sie lächelt freundlich. = She smiles in a friendly way.
As an adjective before a noun, it would get an ending:
- die freundliche Apothekerin = the friendly pharmacist
- ein freundlicher Mann = a friendly man
So: lächelt freundlich = smiles in a friendly way.
Yes, but the meaning changes slightly:
Die Apothekerin lächelt freundlich …
Focus: Her action is friendly (she smiles in a friendly way).Die freundliche Apothekerin lächelt …
Focus: Her general character is friendly (she is a friendly person).
Both are correct, but they emphasize different things (action vs. character).
The preposition in can take either dative or accusative, depending on the meaning:
- Dative → location (Where? static position)
- Accusative → direction (Where to? movement into)
Here, the meaning is location (she is smiling in the pharmacy, she is already there), so we use dative:
- die Apotheke (nominative) → in der Apotheke (dative feminine singular)
If it were movement into the pharmacy, we’d use accusative:
- Sie geht in die Apotheke. = She goes into the pharmacy.
Apotheke is feminine:
- Nominative: die Apotheke
- Accusative: die Apotheke
- Dative: der Apotheke
- Genitive: der Apotheke
After in (with location), we use the dative case.
So die Apotheke turns into der Apotheke → in der Apotheke.
No, there is no direct or indirect object.
Structure:
- Subject: die Apothekerin
- Verb: lächelt
- Adverb: freundlich
- Prepositional phrase (locative): in der Apotheke
The verb lächeln can stand without an object, just like English “smile” in “She smiles.”
In a main clause, German requires the finite verb to be in second position:
- Die Apothekerin → first element
- lächelt → second element (the verb must be here)
- freundlich in der Apotheke → the rest
You cannot put freundlich directly before the verb and push the verb out of second position:
- ✗ Die Apothekerin freundlich lächelt in der Apotheke. (wrong in standard German)
But you can move freundlich around after the verb:
- Die Apothekerin lächelt freundlich in der Apotheke.
- Die Apothekerin lächelt in der Apotheke freundlich.
Both are grammatically fine; the first is more common and natural.
Yes. Then the word order changes slightly, but the verb still stays in second position:
- In der Apotheke lächelt die Apothekerin freundlich.
Now:
- First element: In der Apotheke
- Second element (required verb position): lächelt
- Rest: die Apothekerin freundlich
German usually uses simple present for both:
- Die Apothekerin lächelt freundlich in der Apotheke.
→ can mean:- “The pharmacist smiles kindly in the pharmacy.”
- “The pharmacist is smiling kindly in the pharmacy (right now).”
Context tells you whether it’s a general statement or something happening now.
German has some colloquial ways to show ongoing action, but in standard language, simple present covers both.
Yes, they are related:
- die Apotheke = pharmacy (the place)
- die Apothekerin / der Apotheker = pharmacist (the person who works in a pharmacy)
So the Apothekerin is the person working in the Apotheke. The similarity comes from the same word root.
No, not in standard German. For a specific person, you normally need an article:
- Die Apothekerin lächelt freundlich … (the pharmacist)
- Eine Apothekerin lächelt freundlich … (a pharmacist, not specified)
Omitting the article (Apothekerin lächelt …) sounds wrong unless it’s a special context like a headline or a label, where articles are often dropped.