Breakdown of Die Dozentin bleibt locker, auch wenn ein Student eine unhöfliche Frage stellt.
Questions & Answers about Die Dozentin bleibt locker, auch wenn ein Student eine unhöfliche Frage stellt.
Dozentin is a female lecturer or instructor, usually at a university or other higher-education institution.
- Dozent = male lecturer; Dozentin = female lecturer (the -in ending marks the feminine form).
- Lehrerin is more general “female teacher,” often used for school teachers.
- Professorin is specifically a (female) professor with that academic title.
So Die Dozentin suggests “the (female) lecturer,” not just any teacher.
Die Dozentin uses the definite article die, which suggests a specific lecturer known from context (for example, the one in this course).
- Die Dozentin bleibt locker… = The lecturer stays relaxed… (a particular person)
- Eine Dozentin bleibt locker… = A lecturer stays relaxed… (any lecturer, in general)
Grammatically, both are nominative singular feminine; the choice is about meaning (specific vs. non‑specific).
Here bleibt locker is idiomatic and means “stays relaxed / keeps her cool / stays laid-back.”
- bleiben = to stay / remain
- locker literally = “loose,” but colloquially it can mean “relaxed,” “easy‑going,” “not tense.”
Similar expressions: bleibt ruhig, bleibt gelassen.
So the sentence says that the lecturer does not get stressed or angry.
locker is informal but very common and neutral in everyday spoken German. It’s not rude or slangy.
In a more formal written style, you might prefer:
- Die Dozentin bleibt gelassen…
- Die Dozentin bleibt ruhig…
But bleibt locker is perfectly natural in normal conversation or informal writing.
Both auch wenn and obwohl can often be translated as “although” in English, but there is a nuance:
- auch wenn = “even if / even when / even though.” It often emphasizes a general or hypothetical situation: even if this happens, X still remains true.
- obwohl = “although / even though” for an actual, known fact: although this (fact) is true, X also happens.
In this sentence, auch wenn ein Student eine unhöfliche Frage stellt expresses a general rule: even in that situation, she still stays relaxed. You could say obwohl… only if you were talking about a specific, already-known incident; auch wenn sounds more general and is slightly more natural here.
Because auch wenn introduces a subordinate clause (Nebensatz), and in German subordinate clauses the conjugated verb goes to the end.
Pattern:
- Conjunction (auch wenn) + subject + (objects/adverbs) + verb at the end
So you get:
- auch wenn ein Student eine unhöfliche Frage stellt
In a main clause it would be:
- Ein Student stellt eine unhöfliche Frage. (verb in second position)
ein Student is in the nominative case because Student is the subject of the subordinate clause (he is the one doing the asking).
- Question: Who asks the impolite question? → ein Student (subject → nominative).
For Student, the singular forms are special (this is an n‑declension noun):
- Nominative: ein Student
- Accusative: einen Studenten
- Dative: einem Studenten
- Genitive: eines Studenten
So you only use einen Studenten when it is the direct object, not the subject.
Frage is a feminine noun (die Frage). In this sentence, eine unhöfliche Frage is the direct object (accusative feminine singular).
With a feminine noun and the indefinite article eine, the adjective ends in -e in both nominative and accusative:
- Nominative: eine unhöfliche Frage (e.g. Eine unhöfliche Frage ist unpassend.)
- Accusative: eine unhöfliche Frage (e.g. Er stellt eine unhöfliche Frage.)
So eine unhöfliche Frage is the correct form:
- eine = indefinite feminine article
- unhöfliche = adjective with -e ending for fem. sg. nom./acc.
- Frage = noun
For feminine nouns with an article, the nominative and accusative singular look the same:
- Nominative: die / eine Frage
- Accusative: die / eine Frage
The case difference shows up clearly in masculine nouns (e.g. der Mann → den Mann), but not in feminine nouns with articles. So the only way you know eine unhöfliche Frage is the object is from the sentence structure and the verb’s meaning.
German present tense (Präsens) is also used:
- for general truths and repeated actions, and
- very often for future events, especially in wenn / auch wenn clauses.
So Die Dozentin bleibt locker, auch wenn ein Student eine unhöfliche Frage stellt. can mean:
- She habitually stays relaxed whenever that happens.
- She will stay relaxed even if a student asks such a question in the future.
You don’t need wird bleiben / wird stellen here; the simple present is normal.
In German, every full subordinate clause introduced by a conjunction like wenn, weil, dass, obwohl, etc., must be separated by a comma from the main clause.
Here auch wenn ein Student eine unhöfliche Frage stellt is a subordinate clause, so you must write:
- Die Dozentin bleibt locker, auch wenn ein Student eine unhöfliche Frage stellt.
Leaving out the comma would be incorrect in standard German spelling.
In German, the normal idiom is eine Frage stellen (“to pose/ask a question”). You do not say eine Frage fragen.
Compare:
- Er stellt eine Frage. = He asks a question.
- Er fragt die Dozentin. = He asks the lecturer.
So fragen takes a person as object (jemanden fragen), while eine Frage stellen is the standard way to talk about asking a question itself.
Grammatically, Student is the masculine form (der Student), and Studentin is the feminine form. In traditional usage, the masculine form can be “generic,” but many people now avoid that and use more inclusive forms.
Alternatives you might see:
- ein*e Student*in (with star: gender‑inclusive spelling)
- eine Studierende / ein Studierender (participle used as a gender‑neutral noun)
In this sentence, ein Student is grammatically a male student, unless the wider context explicitly says it’s being used generically.