Mein Bruder macht im Garten Witze, und die Kinder lachen.

My brother makes jokes in the garden, and the children laugh.

Breakdown of Mein Bruder macht im Garten Witze, und die Kinder lachen.

• das Kind: the child
• lachen: to laugh
• und: and
• der Garten: the garden
• mein: my
• der Bruder: the brother
• im: in the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
• Witze machen: to crack jokes

Questions & Answers about Mein Bruder macht im Garten Witze, und die Kinder lachen.

Why is it macht Witze and not something like “sagt Witze” or “erzählt Witze”?

In German, certain verbs just “go together” with certain nouns (collocations), even if a direct translation into English sounds odd.

• Witze machen = to crack/make jokes (very common and natural)
• Witze erzählen = to tell jokes (also correct and common)

You normally don’t say:

• Witze sagen – understandable, but sounds unnatural.
• Witze sprechen – incorrect in this context.

So:

• Mein Bruder macht Witze. = My brother is cracking jokes.
• Mein Bruder erzählt Witze. = My brother is telling jokes.

Both are fine; macht Witze is simply the collocation chosen in this sentence.

What does im Garten mean exactly, and why not in dem Garten?

im is a standard contraction in German:

• im = in dem

So:

• in dem Garten (full form)
• im Garten (contracted form, more common in speech and writing)

The preposition in with a location (where something is) uses the dative case, so:

• Masculine noun: der Garten
• Dative singular masculine: dem Garten
• with in → in dem Garten → im Garten

Meaning: in the garden (location, not movement).

Which case is Garten in, and why?

Garten is in the dative case.

Reason:

• The preposition in can take either dative (location: where?) or accusative (direction: where to?).
• Here the meaning is where he is making jokes → location → dative.

So:

• der Garten (nominative masculine singular)
• im Garten = in dem Garten (dative masculine singular)

Formally:

• in
  • dem
    • Garten → dative → im Garten.

Why is it Mein Bruder macht im Garten Witze and not Mein Bruder im Garten macht Witze?

Both sentences are grammatically correct, but they sound different in emphasis:

1. Mein Bruder macht im Garten Witze.

   • Neutral, natural word order.
   • Focus is on what he does: He makes jokes in the garden.

2. Mein Bruder im Garten macht Witze.

   • Possible, but sounds marked / unusual in everyday speech.
   • Sounds like contrast: My brother in the garden (not the one in the house) is the one making jokes.

Basic rule:

• In a simple German main clause: Subject – Verb – (Time/Manner/Place) – Object is a common neutral pattern.
• So macht (the conjugated verb) must be in second position:
  
  • Mein Bruder (position 1, the whole subject)
  • macht (position 2, finite verb)
  • …rest of the information afterward.

Why is there a comma before und in ..., und die Kinder lachen.? Is it required?

The sentence has two main clauses:

1. Mein Bruder macht im Garten Witze
2. die Kinder lachen

They are joined by und.

In modern German:

• When und connects two full main clauses (each with its own subject and finite verb), the comma is optional.
• Many style guides recommend using the comma for clarity, especially when the clauses are longer.

So both are correct:

• Mein Bruder macht im Garten Witze, und die Kinder lachen.
• Mein Bruder macht im Garten Witze und die Kinder lachen.

Using the comma emphasizes that these are two complete, separate actions.

Why is it die Kinder lachen and not just Kinder lachen?

You could say both, but they have slightly different nuances:

• die Kinder lachen

  • die = definite article, plural.
  • Refers to specific children that the speaker has in mind (maybe children present there, or already known from context).
  • Translation: The children laugh.

• Kinder lachen (without article)

  • More general or indefinite: children (in general) are laughing.
  • Could sound like you are describing a type of situation or a general observation.

In the original sentence, using die Kinder implies we are talking about particular children who react to the brother’s jokes.

Why does it say die Kinder lachen and not die Kinder lacht?

Verb forms in German must match the subject in person and number:

• Kinder is plural → 3rd person plural.
• The verb lachen in the present tense:
  • ich lache
  • du lachst
  • er/sie/es lacht
  • wir lachen
  • ihr lacht
  • sie lachen (they laugh)

So with die Kinder (they), you need lachen:

• Die Kinder lachen. = The children are laughing.

Die Kinder lacht would be incorrect; that form would be 3rd person singular, which doesn’t match the plural subject.

How can German use the simple present machen / lachen for something that is happening “right now”?

German has only one present tense form, the Präsens. It covers both:

• English simple present:
  
  • Mein Bruder macht Witze. = My brother makes jokes.
• English present continuous:
  
  • Mein Bruder macht Witze. = My brother is making jokes.

There is no special -ing form in German. Context usually tells you whether it’s:

• a repeated/habitual action, or
• something happening right now.

In your sentence, it’s natural to understand:
My brother is making jokes in the garden, and the children are laughing.

Why are Bruder, Garten, Witze, Kinder all capitalized?

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

• Mein Bruder – Bruder = noun
• im Garten – Garten = noun
• Witze – noun (plural of Witz)
• die Kinder – Kinder = noun (plural of Kind)

This is a key spelling rule in German:

• Every noun (and every word used as a noun) starts with a capital letter.

What is the plural form of Witz, and why is it Witze here?

The noun is:

• Singular: der Witz = the joke
• Plural: die Witze = the jokes

In the sentence:

• Mein Bruder macht … Witze.
  → plural, because he’s making multiple jokes.

If it were just one joke:

• Mein Bruder macht im Garten einen Witz.
  = My brother is making a joke in the garden.

What case is Witze in, and why is there no article before it?

Witze here is:

• Plural,
• Accusative case,
• Without an article (zero article).

It’s the direct object of macht (What is he making? → jokes):

• der Witz (nom. sg.)
• den Witz (acc. sg.)
• die Witze (nom./acc. pl.)

In plural, nominative and accusative have the same form: Witze.

Why no article?

• In German, plural direct objects can appear without an article when we mean “some” in a non-specific way.
• macht Witze ≈ makes jokes (some jokes), not “the jokes” or “the jokes we talked about”.

If you add an article, it changes the meaning:

• macht die Witze = makes the jokes (specific ones)

How would I negate this sentence, for example: “My brother is not making jokes in the garden”? Where does nicht go?

A natural negation is:

• Mein Bruder macht im Garten keine Witze, und die Kinder lachen nicht.

Two parts:

1. Mein Bruder macht im Garten keine Witze.

   • keine Witze negates the object (no jokes / not any jokes).
   • You use kein(e) to negate a noun that otherwise has no article:
     
     • macht Witze → macht keine Witze.

2. … und die Kinder lachen nicht.

   • Here you negate the verb: the children do not laugh.
   • nicht usually comes near the end, after the verb and any objects, but before certain extra elements.

If you want a simple, whole-sentence negation (emphasis: not in the garden, but somewhere else), you could say:

• Mein Bruder macht nicht im Garten Witze, sondern im Haus.
  = My brother is not making jokes in the garden, but in the house.

Position of nicht depends on what exactly you negate:

• nicht im Garten → not in the garden
• nicht Witze (rare; you’d normally use keine Witze)
• lacht nicht → does not laugh.

Can I say Scherze instead of Witze? What’s the difference?

Yes, but there’s a nuance:

• der Witz / die Witze

  • The most common word for “joke” (a humorous remark, a short funny story).
  • Witze machen / erzählen are very standard expressions.

• der Scherz / die Scherze

  • Also means “joke”, but can sound a bit more formal or old-fashioned in some contexts.
  • Can also mean prank / trick (e.g. einen Scherz machen).

Your sentence could be:

• Mein Bruder macht im Garten Witze, und die Kinder lachen. (most natural)
• Mein Bruder macht im Garten Scherze, und die Kinder lachen. (also correct, slightly different feel)

In everyday language, Witz/Witze is usually the default for verbal jokes that make people laugh.