Breakdown of Manche Kinder leihen sich auf dem Pausenhof einen Ball aus und spielen Fußball.
Questions & Answers about Manche Kinder leihen sich auf dem Pausenhof einen Ball aus und spielen Fußball.
Manche means some or several, but it often suggests not all, but a noticeable subset of a group.
- Manche Kinder = some children / some kids
- Einige Kinder is very close in meaning; in many contexts they’re interchangeable.
Grammar point:
Here manche is used like an adjective determiner in the nominative plural:
- Nominative plural: manche Kinder (some children)
- Dative plural: manchen Kindern (to some children), e.g. Manchen Kindern ist kalt.
In everyday speech, manche Kinder can feel slightly more general or observational than einige Kinder, but the difference is subtle.
In German, a plural noun in a general sense often appears without an article:
- Kinder spielen im Hof. = Children are playing in the yard.
- Manche Kinder leihen sich … = Some children borrow …
If you said:
- Die Kinder leihen sich … = The children (all of them, the group already known) borrow …
- Einige der Kinder leihen sich … = Some of the children (of a specific known group) borrow …
In the original sentence, Manche Kinder just introduces unspecified, general “some children”, so no article is needed.
There are three things going on:
Verb choice: leihen vs. ausleihen
- leihen on its own usually means to lend:
- Ich leihe dir ein Buch. = I lend you a book.
- sich etwas (aus)leihen means to borrow something:
- Ich leihe mir ein Buch (aus). = I borrow a book.
Ausleihen makes the “borrowing” idea especially clear and is very common.
- leihen on its own usually means to lend:
Reflexive pronoun: sich
- sich is the 3rd person reflexive pronoun (for er/sie/es and also sie plural).
- sich etwas (aus)leihen literally is “to lend something to oneself,” but idiomatically = to borrow something.
- With Manche Kinder (3rd person plural), you must use sich, not ihnen or anything else:
- Manche Kinder leihen sich einen Ball aus.
Separable verb: ausleihen
- ausleihen is a separable verb: aus- + leihen.
- In a simple main clause, the prefix goes to the end:
- Manche Kinder leihen sich einen Ball aus.
- In infinitive or past participle forms, it comes back together:
- Sie wollen sich einen Ball ausleihen.
- Sie haben sich einen Ball ausgeliehen.
You can say Manche Kinder leihen einen Ball, but it is usually understood as:
- Some children lend a ball (to someone).
That changes the direction: they are the lenders, not the borrowers.
To clearly express borrow, German prefers:
- sich etwas leihen or
- sich etwas ausleihen
So for “Some children borrow a ball,” the natural version is exactly:
- Manche Kinder leihen sich einen Ball aus.
The preposition auf can take either dative or accusative, depending on meaning:
- Dative = location (where something is)
- Accusative = movement (to where something goes)
In the sentence, the kids are located on the playground:
- auf dem Pausenhof (dative) = on the playground / in the schoolyard
If you described motion towards it, you’d use the accusative:
- Sie gehen auf den Pausenhof. = They go onto the playground.
So dem is dative singular (masculine) of der because Pausenhof is a location, not a destination here.
Pausenhof is a compound noun:
- Pause = break, recess
- Hof = yard, courtyard
So Pausenhof is the schoolyard / playground area where students spend their break.
Grammar details:
- Gender: masculine → der Pausenhof
- Dative singular: dem Pausenhof
- Plural: die Pausenhöfe
Einen Ball is in the accusative case, because it is the direct object of the verb (aus)leihen.
- Masculine noun Ball:
- Nominative: ein Ball (subject)
- Accusative: einen Ball (direct object)
In Manche Kinder leihen sich einen Ball aus, the ball is what they are borrowing → direct object → accusative → einen Ball.
No, leihen einen Ball sich aus is incorrect word order.
In German, when you have:
- a dative pronoun and
- an accusative noun
inside the verb “middle field,” the dative pronoun usually comes first:
- Manche Kinder leihen sich (DAT, pronoun) einen Ball (ACC, noun) aus.
Compare:
- Ich gebe dir das Buch. (dative pronoun + accusative noun)
- Er zeigt ihr den Weg.
So the natural order is:
- leihen sich einen Ball aus, not leihen einen Ball sich aus.
Capitalization
In German, all nouns are capitalized. Fußball is a noun (the sport), so it must have a capital F.No article with sports When talking about playing sports, German normally does not use an article:
- Fußball spielen = to play football/soccer
- Tennis spielen = to play tennis
- Handball spielen = to play handball
So spielen Fußball is the standard pattern: verb + sport (no article).
German uses the simple present tense (Präsens) for both:
- English simple present: they borrow, they play
- English present progressive: they are borrowing, they are playing
So:
- Manche Kinder leihen sich … und spielen Fußball.
can translate as:
- Some children borrow a ball and play football.
or - Some children are borrowing a ball and are playing football.
There is no separate -ing form in German; context tells you whether it’s a general habit or something happening now.
German generally does not use a comma before und when:
- two verbs share the same subject in a simple sentence.
Here:
- Subject: Manche Kinder
- Verbs: leihen sich einen Ball aus and spielen Fußball
- Joined by und in one clause, with no subject repeated.
So no comma is needed:
- Manche Kinder leihen sich auf dem Pausenhof einen Ball aus und spielen Fußball.
You would use a comma if there were two independent clauses with their own subjects, or in some more complex cases, but not here.
Yes, that word order is possible:
- Auf dem Pausenhof leihen sich manche Kinder einen Ball aus und spielen Fußball.
This just moves the place phrase to the beginning for emphasis:
- Focus on where it happens: On the playground, some children borrow a ball …
The meaning is essentially the same.
Important rule still holds: the conjugated verb must stay in position 2 in a main clause:
- Auf dem Pausenhof (first position: adverbial phrase)
- leihen (second position: verb)
- sich manche Kinder einen Ball aus … (rest of the sentence)