Breakdown of Die Anwältin meiner Schwester empfiehlt ihr, den Vertrag noch einmal genau zu lesen.
Questions & Answers about Die Anwältin meiner Schwester empfiehlt ihr, den Vertrag noch einmal genau zu lesen.
German makes a grammatical distinction between male and female professionals:
- der Anwalt = (male) lawyer
- die Anwältin = (female) lawyer
In this sentence, Die Anwältin tells you that the lawyer is female. The article die and the noun ending -in both signal feminine gender in the singular:
- der Lehrer / die Lehrerin (teacher)
- der Arzt / die Ärztin (doctor)
- der Anwalt / die Anwältin (lawyer)
So Die Anwältin = the (female) lawyer.
meiner Schwester is in the genitive case, not nominative.
- meine Schwester = nominative feminine singular (“my sister” as subject)
- meiner Schwester = genitive feminine singular (“of my sister”)
The phrase Die Anwältin meiner Schwester literally means “the lawyer of my sister”, i.e. my sister’s lawyer.
So:
- Die Anwältin meiner Schwester = the lawyer of my sister / my sister’s lawyer
- The genitive ending -er on meiner shows possession: “of my …”