Log inSign up

Meine Chefin trägt heute einen dunkelblauen Anzug ins Büro.

Meine Chefin trägt heute einen dunkelblauen Anzug ins Büro.
My boss (female) is wearing a dark blue suit to the office today.
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching German grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning German now

Questions & Answers about Meine Chefin trägt heute einen dunkelblauen Anzug ins Büro.

Why is it Meine Chefin and not Mein Chefin?

In German, possessive words like mein (my) have to agree with the gender and case of the noun.

  • Chefin is grammatically feminine (die Chefin).
  • It is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case.

For a feminine noun in the nominative, mein becomes meine:

  • mein Chef (my boss – male, nominative)
  • meine Chefin (my boss – female, nominative)

So Meine Chefin is correct because Chefin is feminine and in nominative case.

What is the difference between Chef and Chefin?

Both words mean boss.

  • der Chef = a male boss (or traditionally a boss of unspecified gender, but this is changing)
  • die Chefin = a female boss

In modern, more gender-aware German:

  • People often use Chef for a man and Chefin for a woman.
  • In formal or inclusive language, you might see Chef*in, Chefinnen und Chefs, or neutral words like Vorgesetzte(r) (superior).

In your sentence, Chefin clearly tells us the boss is female.

What does trägt mean here, and why not “is wearing”?

trägt is the 3rd person singular form of the verb tragen (to carry / to wear):

  • ich trage
  • du trägst
  • er/sie/es trägt
  • wir tragen
  • ihr tragt
  • sie/Sie tragen

In this sentence, trägt means “is wearing”:

  • Meine Chefin trägt heute einen dunkelblauen Anzug…
    • literally: My boss wears today a dark blue suit…
    • natural English: My boss *is wearing a dark blue suit today…*

German usually does not have a separate continuous form (is wearing). The simple present (trägt) is used for both:

  • Sie trägt heute einen Anzug. = She wears a suit today / She is wearing a suit today (context decides).
Could I say Meine Chefin hat heute einen dunkelblauen Anzug an instead of trägt?

Yes, that’s possible, and it sounds very natural.

  • einen Anzug tragen = to wear a suit
  • einen Anzug anhaben = to have a suit on (also “to be wearing a suit”)

Examples:

  • Meine Chefin trägt heute einen dunkelblauen Anzug.
  • Meine Chefin hat heute einen dunkelblauen Anzug an.

The meaning is almost the same. tragen is a bit more neutral/direct “to wear”; anhaben is slightly more colloquial but very common in everyday speech.

Why is it einen dunkelblauen Anzug and not ein dunkelblauer Anzug?

This is about case and gender:

  1. Anzug is masculine: der Anzug.
  2. In the sentence, the suit is the direct object of the verb trägt:
    • Who is doing something? → Meine Chefin (subject, nominative)
    • What is she wearing? → einen dunkelblauen Anzug (object, accusative)

Masculine ein in the accusative becomes einen:

  • Nominative: ein Anzug
  • Accusative: einen Anzug

So we get:

  • Meine Chefin trägt heute einen Anzug.
  • Add the adjective: einen dunkelblauen Anzug.
Why does dunkelblauen end in -en?

This is adjective declension.

Pattern: indefinite article (ein/eine/einen) + adjective + masculine noun in accusative → adjective takes -en.

  • der Anzug → einen Anzug (accusative)
  • with adjective: einen dunkelblauen Anzug

General pattern for masculine with ein-words:

  • Nominative: ein dunkelblauer Anzug (subject)
  • Accusative: einen dunkelblauen Anzug (object)

So the -en ending on dunkelblauen tells you:

  • It’s describing a masculine noun (Anzug),
  • which is in the accusative,
  • and is preceded by an ein-word (einen).
Is dunkelblau one word or two? Could I say dunkel blauer Anzug?

In this context, dunkelblau is treated as one color word and normally written as one word:

  • dunkelblau = dark blue

So you write:

  • ein dunkelblauer Anzug
  • einen dunkelblauen Anzug

You would not normally write dunkel blauer Anzug here; that would look wrong to native speakers. German often combines basic colors with modifiers (hell-, dunkel-, knall-, etc.) into single words:

  • hellgrün, dunkelrot, knallgelb, etc.
Why is it ins Büro and not im Büro?

This is the classic motion vs. location difference with in:

  • ins Büro = into the office (movement, direction, accusative)
  • im Büro = in the office (location, dative)

In your sentence:

  • trägt … ins Büro = She is going to the office wearing the suit.
    • There is movement to the office implied.

If you said:

  • Meine Chefin trägt heute einen dunkelblauen Anzug im Büro.

that would mean: She is wearing a dark blue suit *in the office (when she is there), focusing on the *location, not the movement to it.

What exactly is ins? Why not just in das Büro?

ins is a contraction:

  • in + das Büro → ins Büro

This is very common and sounds more natural in everyday German:

  • ins Kino (in das Kino)
  • ins Bett (in das Bett)
  • ins Büro (in das Büro)

You can say in das Büro, and it’s grammatically correct, but ins Büro is the normal spoken and written form unless you really want to emphasize das for some reason (which is rare here).

Why is Büro capitalized?

In German, all nouns are capitalized, regardless of where they appear in the sentence.

  • das Büro → ins Büro
  • Other examples: der Anzug, die Chefin, der Tisch, die Stadt

So Büro is capitalized simply because it is a noun.

What gender is Büro, and does that matter for ins?

Büro is neuter:

  • das Büro (singular)
  • die Büros (plural)

For the contraction:

  • in + das Büro → ins Büro

The fact that it’s neuter is why the article is das, which then contracts with in to ins. If the noun were masculine or neuter with der/das, you’d also get ins; for feminine (die), it would be:

  • in die Schule → no contraction (in die, not ins).
Why is heute after the verb and not at the beginning of the sentence?

Word order in German main clauses follows the V2 rule: the conjugated verb is always in second position. The first position can be the subject, a time expression, etc.

In your sentence:

  • Meine Chefin (1st position)
  • trägt (2nd position, verb)
  • heute einen dunkelblauen Anzug ins Büro (rest of the sentence)

You could also say:

  • Heute trägt meine Chefin einen dunkelblauen Anzug ins Büro.

Here:

  • Heute (1st)
  • trägt (2nd, still)
  • meine Chefin … (rest)

Both are correct. The difference is which element you want to emphasize slightly:

  • Meine Chefin trägt heute… – focus more on my boss.
  • Heute trägt meine Chefin… – focus more on today (today, unlike other days, she is wearing a suit).
Is there a rule for the order heute … ins Büro (time before place)?

Yes, there’s a helpful German rule of thumb often taught as TeKaMoLo:

  • Temporal (when?)
  • Kausal (why?)
  • Modal (how?)
  • Lokal (where?)

So typical neutral word order is:

  • time → (reason) → manner → place

Your sentence fits this pattern:

  • heute (time)
  • … einen dunkelblauen Anzug (what she is wearing; not TeKaMoLo, but the object)
  • ins Büro (place)

So heute … ins Büro → time first, place later. That’s why it sounds very natural.

What tense is trägt? In English we say “is wearing” – does German have a separate form?

trägt is the simple present tense (Präsens).

German usually does not form a separate present progressive (is wearing, is going, is doing). Instead, the simple present covers both:

  • Sie trägt einen Anzug.
    • She wears a suit.
    • She is wearing a suit.

Context tells you whether it’s a general habit or something happening right now. Because of heute (today), your sentence clearly refers to a specific occasion → is wearing today.