Der Junge spielt im Garten.

The boy plays in the garden.

Breakdown of Der Junge spielt im Garten.

• spielen: to play
• der Garten: the garden
• im: in the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
• der Junge: the boy

Questions & Answers about Der Junge spielt im Garten.

Why is it Der Junge and not something like Den Jungen or Dem Jungen?

Der Junge is in the nominative case, because he is the subject of the sentence – the one doing the action (playing).

• In German, the masculine definite article changes with case:
  • der – nominative (subject)
  • den – accusative (direct object)
  • dem – dative (indirect object)

Since the boy is doing the playing (not receiving an action), the correct form is der Junge.

What does im mean, and why isn’t it just in?

Im is a contraction of in dem.

• in = in
• dem = the (masculine/neuter, dative singular)
• in + dem → im

So im Garten literally means “in the garden”, with Garten in the dative case after the preposition in (here indicating location).

Why is Garten in the dative case here?