Breakdown of Ich habe meinen Mitgliedsausweis im Portemonnaie.
Questions & Answers about Ich habe meinen Mitgliedsausweis im Portemonnaie.
Because Mitgliedsausweis is masculine and used as a direct object, so it must be in the accusative case.
- Mitgliedsausweis (ID / membership card) → masculine: der Mitgliedsausweis
- Possessive mein- in the masculine:
- Nominative (subject): mein Mitgliedsausweis
- Accusative (direct object): meinen Mitgliedsausweis
In this sentence, the card is what you have, so it’s the direct object:
- Ich (subject, nominative)
- habe (verb)
- meinen Mitgliedsausweis (direct object, accusative)
That’s why it must be meinen, not mein.
Im Portemonnaie is dative case and expresses location.
- in is a two-way preposition:
- Akkusativ (accusative) for movement: in das Portemonnaie (into the wallet)
- Dativ (dative) for location: in dem Portemonnaie (in the wallet)
Here we talk about where the card is (location), not where it’s going, so we need dative: in dem Portemonnaie.
German usually contracts in dem to im:
- in + dem → im
So im Portemonnaie literally = in dem Portemonnaie = in the wallet (dative).
Two different grammar roles:
- meinen Mitgliedsausweis is the direct object of habe → accusative
- im Portemonnaie is a prepositional phrase of location with in → dative
So structurally:
- Ich (subject, nominative)
- habe (verb)
- meinen Mitgliedsausweis (direct object, accusative)
- im Portemonnaie (where? location with in + dative)
That’s why the same sentence uses two different cases.
Because meinen is already a determiner (a possessive word). In German you normally use either:
- a definite/indefinite article: der / ein / den ..., or
- a possessive determiner: mein / dein / sein ..., etc.
You don’t normally combine them in standard German:
- ✅ meinen Mitgliedsausweis
- ✅ den Mitgliedsausweis
- ❌ den meinen Mitgliedsausweis (unusual / not standard here)
So meinen takes the place of the article.
Im Portemonnaie literally means “in the wallet”, not “in my wallet”. However, in normal conversation, when someone says:
- Ich habe meinen Mitgliedsausweis im Portemonnaie.
listeners will usually assume you mean your own wallet, because that’s the most natural interpretation.
You can say:
- Ich habe meinen Mitgliedsausweis in meinem Portemonnaie.
That is also correct, just a bit more explicit and slightly heavier stylistically. In many everyday contexts, German leaves out the second mein- when it’s obvious from context.
Yes, that’s very idiomatic. Differences in nuance:
Ich habe meinen Mitgliedsausweis im Portemonnaie.
- Focus: where exactly it is (in the wallet).
- You’re giving the location.
Ich habe meinen Mitgliedsausweis dabei.
- Focus: you have it with you (on your person).
- Not specific about where (could be in a bag, pocket, etc.).
If someone at the gym or library asks for proof:
- Haben Sie Ihren Mitgliedsausweis dabei?
- “Do you have your membership card with you?”
You might answer:
- Ja, ich habe meinen Mitgliedsausweis im Portemonnaie.
(Yes, I have my membership card in my wallet.)
In German it is one word: Mitgliedsausweis.
It’s a compound noun:
- das Mitglied – member
- der Ausweis – ID, card, pass
Putting them together:
- der Mitgliedsausweis – membership card / membership ID
The extra s in the middle is a common linking -s in German compounds (Fugen-s). It doesn’t change the meaning. Many German nouns are built this way.
Portemonnaie is neuter: das Portemonnaie.
Full forms by case (singular):
- Nominative: das Portemonnaie
- Dative: dem Portemonnaie
So:
- in dem Portemonnaie (in the wallet; dative)
contracts to: - im Portemonnaie
That’s why we say im Portemonnaie, not in der Portemonnaie or something similar.
Very roughly in English-like syllables:
Mitgliedsausweis → MIT-glidss-ows-vise
- Stress on the first syllable: MIT
- Mitglied: the t is pronounced; glied like gleed
- aus like English “ouse” in house
- weis like “vice”
Portemonnaie → similar to PORT-mo-nay
- Stress usually on the first syllable: PORT
- Final -aie like French -é, i.e. nay
And ich is pronounced with the “soft” ch sound, roughly like “iH” with air between the tongue and the palate ([ɪç]), not like English “k”.
Yes, that’s correct and natural. German word order rule: the conjugated verb must be in second position in main clauses, but almost anything can be put in first position for emphasis.
Some valid variants:
- Ich habe meinen Mitgliedsausweis im Portemonnaie. (neutral)
- Im Portemonnaie habe ich meinen Mitgliedsausweis.
→ Emphasis on the location: “In the wallet is where I have my card.” - Meinen Mitgliedsausweis habe ich im Portemonnaie.
→ Emphasis on the card, maybe contrasting it with something else.
All are grammatical; the main difference is which part you highlight.
Yes, several:
- die Geldbörse – very common, neutral (literally: “money purse”)
- die Brieftasche – literally “document/paper pocket”, often a bigger wallet
- der Geldbeutel – common especially in southern Germany / Austria
All can mean wallet / purse depending on region and context.
Portemonnaie is widely understood and quite standard.
On its own, Ich habe meinen Mitgliedsausweis im Portemonnaie simply states a current fact:
- “My membership card is in my wallet.”
It doesn’t automatically imply that you left it there by accident or that you don’t have the wallet with you. For that nuance, German would usually add more:
- Ich habe meinen Mitgliedsausweis im Portemonnaie gelassen.
– I left my membership card in the wallet.
or
- Mein Mitgliedsausweis ist zu Hause im Portemonnaie.
– My membership card is in my wallet at home.
So the given sentence is just about where it is now, not about forgetting or leaving it somewhere.