Die Lehrerin lobt die Kinder im Garten.

The teacher praises the children in the garden.

Breakdown of Die Lehrerin lobt die Kinder im Garten.

• das Kind: the child
• in: in
• dem: the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
• der Garten: the garden
• die Lehrerin: the teacher (female)
• loben: to praise

Questions & Answers about Die Lehrerin lobt die Kinder im Garten.

How do I know who is the subject and who is the object, since both die Lehrerin and die Kinder start with die?

You tell mainly from:

1. Case endings on the noun phrase
   
   • die Lehrerin is nominative (subject).
   • die Kinder is accusative (direct object).

For feminine singular and plural, nominative and accusative look the same (die), so case is not visible on the article here. But the role is:

• The one that does the action is the subject: die Lehrerin (the teacher).
• The one that receives the action is the object: die Kinder (the children).

2. Default word order
   In a simple main clause with SVO order, German tends to put:
   • Subject first: Die Lehrerin
   • Then the verb: lobt
   • Then the object: die Kinder

So: Die Lehrerin (subject) lobt (verb) die Kinder (object) im Garten (adverbial phrase).

What verb form is lobt, and what is the infinitive?

• The infinitive is loben = to praise.

• lobt is 3rd person singular, present tense, indicative:

  • ich lobe – I praise
  • du lobst – you (sg., informal) praise
  • er/sie/es lobt – he/she/it praises
  • wir loben – we praise
  • ihr lobt – you (pl., informal) praise
  • sie/Sie loben – they / you (formal) praise

In the sentence, die Lehrerin is she, so the correct form is sie lobt → Die Lehrerin lobt …

Why is it die Lehrerin and not der Lehrer? What does -in mean?

• Lehrer = (male) teacher
• Lehrerin = (female) teacher

The ending -in is a common marker for a female person in many German job titles and roles:

• der Arzt → die Ärztin (doctor, m/f)
• der Student → die Studentin (student, m/f)

Here, die Lehrerin shows that the teacher is female. If it were a male teacher, you would say:

• Der Lehrer lobt die Kinder im Garten.

Why is Kinder plural, and how is it formed from Kind?

• das Kind = the child (singular)
• die Kinder = the children (plural)

Plural formation:

• Add -er to the stem: Kind → Kinder
• The plural article is die for all genders in the nominative and accusative:
  
  • die Kinder (nom.) – the children (as subject)
  • die Kinder (acc.) – the children (as object)

So die Kinder here is accusative plural: it’s the direct object of lobt.

Could it be die Kindern instead of die Kinder?

No, not in this sentence.

• Kinder is accusative plural → die Kinder (no extra -n).

• Kindern is dative plural, used e.g.:

  • Die Lehrerin hilft den Kindern.
    The teacher helps the children.

In our sentence we have a direct object (accusative), so it must be:

• Die Lehrerin lobt die Kinder im Garten.
  not: die Kindern.

What exactly is im, and why not just in dem Garten?

im is the contracted form of in dem:

• in (in) + dem (dative masculine/neuter article) → im

Because Garten is masculine (der Garten), and with a static location (no movement), in takes the dative:

• in + dem Garten → im Garten

Both are grammatically correct:

• Die Lehrerin lobt die Kinder im Garten.
• Die Lehrerin lobt die Kinder in dem Garten.

In everyday speech, the contracted form im is much more common.

Why is it dative after in here? Can in also take accusative?

Yes, in is a two-way preposition (Wechselpräposition). It takes:

• Dative for location (where?) – no movement:

  • im Garten → in the garden (location)
  • in der Schule → in the school

• Accusative for direction (where to?) – movement into:

  • in den Garten → into the garden
  • in die Schule → into the school

In Die Lehrerin lobt die Kinder im Garten, the meaning is the praising happens in the garden; no movement is expressed → dative.

Why is Garten capitalized?

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

• der Garten (garden) is a noun → always capitalized.
• Other examples:
  
  • die Lehrerin, die Kinder, das Buch, die Stadt.

Adjectives, verbs, and most other word types are not capitalized (except at the start of a sentence or in special cases).

Can I move im Garten to another position, like Im Garten lobt die Lehrerin die Kinder?

Yes. In German, adverbial phrases (like im Garten) are quite flexible:

All of these are correct, with slightly different emphasis:

1. Die Lehrerin lobt die Kinder im Garten.
   (Neutral: new information at the end; focus on where.)

2. Im Garten lobt die Lehrerin die Kinder.
   (Emphasis on the place: In the garden the teacher praises the children.)

3. Die Lehrerin im Garten lobt die Kinder.
   (Now im Garten sounds like it describes which teacher: the teacher who is in the garden.)

Just remember: in a main clause, the conjugated verb must stay in 2nd position:

• Im Garten (1st element) lobt (2nd element) die Lehrerin die Kinder.

Can I leave out the article and say Lehrerin lobt Kinder im Garten, like in English “Teacher praises children in the garden”?

You can omit articles in some cases, but it changes the meaning:

• Die Lehrerin lobt die Kinder im Garten.
  → A specific teacher praises specific children in the garden.

• Lehrerin lobt Kinder im Garten.
  → Sounds like a headline or a very generic statement:
  “(A) teacher praises children in the garden” / “Teacher praises children in gardens.”
  It’s unusual in normal spoken German.

In standard full sentences, German normally uses articles much more often than English. So for “The teacher praises the children in the garden,” you should keep both die.

What tense does lobt express? Is it “praises” or “is praising”?

German Präsens (present tense) covers both English simple present and present progressive:

• Die Lehrerin lobt die Kinder im Garten. can mean:
  • The teacher praises the children in the garden. (habitual/general)
  • The teacher is praising the children in the garden. (right now)

Context usually clarifies which meaning is intended.

Why is the verb in second position? Could I ever put lobt at the end?

In a main clause, standard German requires:

• The conjugated verb in 2nd position:
  • Die Lehrerin (1st element) lobt (2nd element) die Kinder im Garten.

The first “position” is a slot, not necessarily one word; it can be:

• A subject: Die Lehrerin lobt …
• An adverbial: Im Garten lobt die Lehrerin …
• An object: Die Kinder lobt die Lehrerin im Garten.

But in all these, lobt stays in 2nd position.

At the end, you’d only put the infinitive or participle in certain constructions (subordinate clauses, compound tenses, etc.), e.g.:

• …, dass die Lehrerin die Kinder im Garten lobt.
  (Here lobt is at the end because it’s a subordinate clause.)