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Das Baby meiner Schwester schläft endlich, und alle sind gelassen.

Das Baby meiner Schwester schläft endlich, und alle sind gelassen.
The baby of my sister is finally sleeping, and everyone is relaxed.

Breakdown of Das Baby meiner Schwester schläft endlich, und alle sind gelassen.

sein
to be
und
and
schlafen
to sleep
mein
my
die Schwester
the sister
endlich
finally
alle
everyone
das Baby
the baby
gelassen
relaxed
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Questions & Answers about Das Baby meiner Schwester schläft endlich, und alle sind gelassen.

Why is it meiner Schwester and not meine Schwester after Das Baby?

Because meiner Schwester is in the genitive case, meaning “of my sister” / “my sister’s”.

  • Das Baby meiner Schwester = the baby of my sister / my sister’s baby.
  • The base form is meine Schwester (nominative: my sister).
  • In the genitive singular (feminine), meine becomes meiner, and Schwester stays the same: meiner Schwester.

So structure-wise, it is:

  • Das Baby (subject, nominative)
  • meiner Schwester (genitive attribute = whose baby?)

You cannot say Das Baby meine Schwester here; the possessive has to be in the genitive form: meiner.

Exactly what case is meiner Schwester and how does this pattern work with other feminine nouns?

Meiner Schwester is genitive singular, feminine.

For a typical feminine noun like die Schwester with the possessive mein-, the relevant forms are:

  • Nominative: meine Schwester (My sister is nice. – Meine Schwester ist nett.)
  • Accusative: meine Schwester (I see my sister. – Ich sehe meine Schwester.)
  • Dative: meiner Schwester (I help my sister. – Ich helfe meiner Schwester.)
  • Genitive: meiner Schwester (My sister’s baby. – Das Baby meiner Schwester.)

So you can’t see the difference between dative and genitive just from the form meiner Schwester; you have to look at the function in the sentence:

  • After a verb like helfen, it’s dative: Ich helfe meiner Schwester.
  • After a noun showing possession, it’s genitive: Das Baby meiner Schwester.
Can I also say Das Baby von meiner Schwester instead of Das Baby meiner Schwester?

Yes, you can.

  • Das Baby meiner Schwester – genitive; slightly more neutral/standard and a bit more formal/written.
  • Das Baby von meiner Schwester – von + dative; more colloquial/spoken.

Both are correct and very common. In everyday speech, many people will naturally say Das Baby von meiner Schwester. In written German, especially in more formal contexts, Das Baby meiner Schwester might be preferred.

Be careful with the form after von:

  • It must be von meiner Schwester (dative), not von meine Schwester.
Why does meiner Schwester come after Baby and not before, like in English my sister’s baby?

German normally puts the possessed thing first and the possessor second in a genitive construction:

  • Das Baby meiner Schwester
    literally: the baby of my sister

General pattern:
[Thing] + [genitive possessor]

Some common patterns:

  • Das Auto meines Bruders – my brother’s car
  • Die Freunde meiner Mutter – my mother’s friends

If you want the possessor first, you usually don’t use the full noun with a genitive, but either:

  • a possessive adjective: das Baby meiner Schwester → ihr Baby (her baby, if context is clear), or
  • a name with -s: Marias Baby, Peters Fahrrad (like “Maria’s baby”).

But Meiner Schwester Baby is not standard German; it sounds childlike or dialectal.

Why is it das Baby and not der or die Baby?

In German, Baby is grammatically neuter, so it always takes das:

  • das Baby
  • ein Baby
  • das kleine Baby

This is just a lexical property of the word Baby; you have to learn it with its gender.
Many foreign / modern nouns with -y (from English) are neuter in German: das Handy, das Hobby, das Baby.

Why does schlafen become schläft here?

Schläft is the 3rd person singular, present tense of schlafen.

Schlafen is a strong verb that changes its stem vowel in the 2nd and 3rd person singular:

  • ich schlafe
  • du schläfst
  • er/sie/es schläft
  • wir schlafen
  • ihr schlaft
  • sie/Sie schlafen

So with das Baby (3rd person singular), you must say:

  • Das Baby … schläft., not schlaft or schlafen.
Why is there a comma before und in ..., und alle sind gelassen?

In German, you usually put a comma between two independent main clauses, even if they are joined by und.

Here we have:

  1. Das Baby meiner Schwester schläft endlich (full main clause)
  2. alle sind gelassen (another full main clause)

Because these are two separate clauses with their own subjects and verbs, the comma is correct and recommended:

  • Das Baby meiner Schwester schläft endlich, und alle sind gelassen.

In English, you would often not put a comma before and in a similar sentence, but German punctuation rules are stricter here.

Why is it alle sind gelassen and not alle ist gelassen?

Because alle is plural, so the verb must also be plural.

  • alle = everyone / all (people) → they (plural)
  • therefore: alle sind, not alle ist.

Examples:

  • Alle sind müde. – Everyone is tired.
  • Alle waren hier. – Everyone was here.
What exactly does gelassen mean here, and how is it different from ruhig or entspannt?

In this sentence, gelassen means something like calm, composed, unruffled.

Nuances:

  • gelassen – calm in a composed, not easily upset way. It often sounds a bit more grown-up or slightly formal.
  • ruhig – quiet, calm; can describe noise level, movement, or mood.
  • entspannt – relaxed, not tense; often used for people after stress, holidays, etc.

So:

  • alle sind gelassen – everyone is calm and not stressed or nervous.
  • alle sind ruhig – everyone is quiet (could also just mean not talking / moving much).
  • alle sind entspannt – everyone is relaxed (chilled out, no tension).

All three could work, but gelassen emphasizes that people remain composed now that the baby is finally asleep.

Is gelassen here a past participle of lassen, or an adjective?

Formally, gelassen can be either:

  1. The past participle of lassen (to let/leave)
    • Er hat das Glas fallen gelassen. – He let the glass fall.
  2. An adjective meaning calm, composed
    • Er ist sehr gelassen. – He is very calm.

In alle sind gelassen, it is clearly an adjective:

  • It describes the state of “alle” (everyone).
  • You can add adverbs like sehr: alle sind sehr gelassen.
  • You are not talking about “leaving” or “letting” anything.

So here, treat gelassen as a normal adjective, used as a predicate with sein: sein + Adjektiv (ist müde, ist glücklich, ist gelassen).

Where can endlich go in this sentence, and does the meaning change?

In the original:

  • Das Baby meiner Schwester schläft endlich, und alle sind gelassen.

Endlich is an adverb meaning finally / at last, and it usually appears near the verb it modifies. Common variants:

  1. Das Baby meiner Schwester schläft endlich.
  2. Das Baby meiner Schwester schläft jetzt endlich. (adds now at last)
  3. Endlich schläft das Baby meiner Schwester. (stronger emphasis on finally!)

All are grammatical:

  • Middle position (… schläft endlich) is the most neutral.
  • Putting endlich at the beginning (Endlich schläft …) emphasizes the feeling of relief or impatience more strongly.
Why is Schwester capitalized?

Because in German, all nouns are capitalized, regardless of their position in the sentence.

  • das Baby, meiner Schwester, die Stadt, ein Auto, etc.

So Schwester is capitalized because it is a noun, not because it’s part of a name or at the start of the sentence.