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Learn Hardcore German: Wir teilen dieses Geheimnis. - We share this secret.

Hardcore German
/Lesson 75
/Wir teilen dieses Geheimnis.

Wir teilen dieses Geheimnis.

Word

Wir teilen dieses Geheimnis.

Meaning

We share this secret.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore German

Lesson

Breakdown of Wir teilen dieses Geheimnis.

Questions & Answers about Wir teilen dieses Geheimnis.

What are the basic parts of this sentence and their meanings?

The sentence Wir teilen dieses Geheimnis. breaks down like this:

Wir – we (1st person plural subject pronoun)
teilen – share (or divide, depending on context; here: to share)
dieses – this (demonstrative determiner, “this particular”)
Geheimnis – secret (noun, das Geheimnis, neuter)

Word order is Subject – Verb – Object, just like English We share this secret.

What is the subject, verb, and object, and which cases are used?

Subject: Wir – in the nominative case (who is doing the action?)
Verb: teilen
Direct object: dieses Geheimnis – in the accusative case (what is being shared?)

So the structure is:

Wir (nom.) teilen dieses Geheimnis (acc.)
English equivalent: We share this secret.

In German, direct objects of normal transitive verbs like teilen go into the accusative case, which is why dieses takes the accusative form.

Why is it dieses Geheimnis and not or ?

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diese Geheimnis

dieser Geheimnis

Because Geheimnis is:

neuter (das Geheimnis),
and here it is a singular accusative noun (the direct object).

The demonstrative stem dies- (“this”) is declined like this in singular:

Masculine
- Nominative: dieser Mann
- Accusative: diesen Mann
Feminine
- Nominative: diese Frau
- Accusative: diese Frau
Neuter
- Nominative: dieses Kind
- Accusative: dieses Kind

Since Geheimnis is neuter and used as a direct object, both nominative and accusative forms are dieses. That’s why you say dieses Geheimnis, not diese or dieser.

What gender is Geheimnis, and how can I tell?

Geheimnis is neuter: das Geheimnis (the secret).

There’s no fully reliable rule for all nouns, but some patterns help:

Many nouns ending in -nis are neuter:
- das Ergebnis (result)
- das Zeugnis (certificate)
- das Geheimnis (secret)

You still need to learn the gender with each noun, but knowing that -nis is often neuter makes das Geheimnis a good guess.

Why is there no separate word for the? Why not Wir teilen das dieses Geheimnis?

In German you usually use either a regular article (der, die, das, ein, eine, …) or a demonstrative like dieser / diese / dieses, not both.

das Geheimnis – the secret
dieses Geheimnis – this secret (a specific, pointed-out secret)

dieses already carries the “the/this” idea, so adding das would be wrong:

✅ Wir teilen dieses Geheimnis.
❌ Wir teilen das dieses Geheimnis. (ungrammatical)

Does teilen always mean “to share”? I thought it could also mean “to divide”.

teilen has two main meanings:

to divide / split
- Wir teilen den Kuchen. – We divide/split the cake.
to share
- Wir teilen dieses Geheimnis. – We share this secret.

Which meaning is intended depends on the object:

With something physical and divisible (Kuchen, Geld, Zimmer), it often means split/divide.
With abstract things (Geheimnis, Meinung, Interessen, Freude), it typically means share.

So with Geheimnis, the natural reading is to share a secret.

What is the difference between teilen, mitteilen, and gemeinsam haben?

They express related but different ideas:

teilen – to share or to divide
- Wir teilen dieses Geheimnis. – We share this secret.
  (Both of us know it; we have it in common.)
mitteilen – to inform / to tell (something to someone)
Literally “to share with”, but used like to notify:
- Sie teilt mir ein Geheimnis mit. – She tells me a secret.
gemeinsam haben – to have in common
- Wir haben dieses Geheimnis gemeinsam. – We have this secret in common.

In your sentence, teilen is the natural verb because you emphasize the joint possession/knowledge of the secret.

Why is the verb form teilen and not teilt or teile?

The verb must agree with the subject wir (we).

Present tense of teilen:

ich teile – I share
du teilst – you (singular informal) share
er/sie/es teilt – he/she/it shares
wir teilen – we share
ihr teilt – you (plural informal) share
sie teilen – they share
Sie teilen – you (formal) share

Since the subject is wir, you must use wir teilen.

Does this mean “We share this secret” or “We are sharing this secret”? How is continuous tense expressed?

Wir teilen dieses Geheimnis. covers both:

We share this secret. (general fact)
We are sharing this secret. (present, ongoing)

German normally uses the simple present for both simple and continuous meanings. Context tells you whether it’s a general truth, something habitual, or something happening right now.

If you really want to stress “right now”, you could add a time expression:

Gerade teilen wir dieses Geheimnis. – We are (right now) sharing this secret.

Could I also say Wir teilen ein Geheimnis? What’s the difference from dieses Geheimnis?

Yes, you can say:

Wir teilen ein Geheimnis. – We share a secret.

Difference:

ein Geheimnis – some (unspecified) secret; we’re not identifying which one.
dieses Geheimnis – this particular secret, which is already known or pointed out in context.

So dieses Geheimnis is more specific and definite than ein Geheimnis.

Can I change the word order, like Dieses Geheimnis teilen wir?

Yes. Both sentences are correct:

Wir teilen dieses Geheimnis. (neutral emphasis on wir as subject)
Dieses Geheimnis teilen wir. (emphasis on dieses Geheimnis)

German main clauses must keep the conjugated verb in 2nd position, but other elements can be moved for emphasis:

1st position: Dieses Geheimnis
2nd position: teilen (the finite verb)
Later: wir

This changes what you highlight, but not the basic meaning.

How would I negate this sentence?

To say We do not share this secret, you place nicht near the end, after the object:

Wir teilen dieses Geheimnis nicht. – We do not share this secret.

Typical pattern for simple sentences:

Subject + verb + objects/complements + nicht

So:

Wir (subject)
teilen (verb)
dieses Geheimnis (object)
nicht (negation)

Why is Geheimnis capitalized, and why is Wir capitalized?

Geheimnis is capitalized because all nouns are capitalized in German:
- das Haus, die Liebe, das Geheimnis, etc.
Wir is capitalized because it is the first word of the sentence.
- Pronouns like wir, du, ich are otherwise written in lowercase in the middle of a sentence.

So if it were mid-sentence, you’d write wir with a small w, but Geheimnis would still be capitalized.

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