Meine Chefin erklärt mir den Arbeitsvertrag.

My boss explains the employment contract to me.

Breakdown of Meine Chefin erklärt mir den Arbeitsvertrag.

• mein: my
• mir: me
• erklären: to explain
• den: the; (masculine, accusative)
• die Chefin: the boss (female)
• der Arbeitsvertrag: the employment contract

Questions & Answers about Meine Chefin erklärt mir den Arbeitsvertrag.

What does the -in ending in Chefin mean, and why is it used here?

The ending -in makes a noun grammatically feminine and usually refers to a female person in that role.

• Chef = (male) boss
• Chefin = (female) boss

Because we are talking about a female boss, the sentence uses Chefin. If the boss were male, it would be:

• Mein Chef erklärt mir den Arbeitsvertrag.

Why is it Meine Chefin and not Mein Chefin?

The possessive determiner (mein, dein, sein, etc.) changes its ending to agree with the gender, number, and case of the noun it belongs to.

• Chefin is feminine.
• In this sentence, Chefin is the subject, so it is in the nominative case, singular, feminine.

For feminine nominative singular, mein takes the ending -e:

• meine Chefin (feminine nominative)
• mein Chef (masculine nominative)

So we say Meine Chefin erklärt ….

Why is it mir and not mich?

Mir and mich are both 1st person singular pronouns, but with different cases:

• mich = accusative (direct object)
• mir = dative (indirect object)

The verb erklären is normally used with two objects in German:

• jemandem (dative) etwas (accusative) erklären
  = to explain something to someone

So:

• mir = to me (dative, indirect object)
• den Arbeitsvertrag = the work contract (accusative, direct object)

That is why the sentence must use mir, not mich.

How do we know that mir is dative and den Arbeitsvertrag is accusative?

You can see it from both the verb pattern and the forms:

1. Verb pattern
   Erklären typically takes:

   • a dative for the person (to whom something is explained)
   • an accusative for the thing (what is explained)

   So:

   • person → dative → mir
   • thing → accusative → den Arbeitsvertrag

2. Forms in the sentence

   • mir is the dative form of ich
   • den is the masculine accusative singular form of der

   Arbeitsvertrag is masculine.
   Masculine accusative singular uses den:

   • nominative: der Arbeitsvertrag (subject)
   • accusative: den Arbeitsvertrag (direct object)

So grammar and forms both tell us: mir = dative, den Arbeitsvertrag = accusative.

Why is it den Arbeitsvertrag and not der Arbeitsvertrag?

Because Arbeitsvertrag is the direct object of the verb erklärt, so it must be in the accusative case.

• Arbeitsvertrag is masculine.
• Masculine singular article in:
  • nominative: der Arbeitsvertrag
  • accusative: den Arbeitsvertrag

In this sentence, Meine Chefin is the subject (nominative), and den Arbeitsvertrag is what is being explained (accusative), so we need den.

What does the compound noun Arbeitsvertrag consist of, and what does that mean?

Arbeitsvertrag is a compound noun made of:

• Arbeit = work
• Vertrag = contract

German frequently combines nouns into one longer word. The meaning is usually very transparent:

• Arbeitsvertrag = work contract / employment contract
  (literally: work + contract)

The whole compound is masculine: der/den Arbeitsvertrag.

Why is the verb form erklärt used here?

Erklärt is the 3rd person singular, present tense form of erklären.

The infinitive is erklären. In the present tense:

• ich erkläre
• du erklärst
• er / sie / es erklärt
• wir erklären
• ihr erklärt
• sie erklären

The subject is Meine Chefin (she), so we need sie erklärt = Meine Chefin erklärt.

The tense is Präsens (present), which in German can describe:

• something happening now, or
• something happening in the near future, depending on context.

Why is the verb in second position: Meine Chefin erklärt mir den Arbeitsvertrag?

In a normal German main clause, the finite verb (the conjugated verb) must stand in second position (the so-called verb-second rule).

The positions are counted as elements, not single words:

1. Meine Chefin → first element (subject phrase)
2. erklärt → second element (finite verb)
3. mir den Arbeitsvertrag → rest of the sentence

So erklärt must come right after the first sentence element, which here is Meine Chefin.

Can the word order be changed, for example: Meine Chefin erklärt den Arbeitsvertrag mir?

Yes, that word order is grammatically possible, but it is less natural in everyday speech.

The usual and most natural order is:

• subject – verb – dative pronoun – accusative object
  → Meine Chefin erklärt mir den Arbeitsvertrag.

Pronouns (like mir) usually come before full noun phrases (like den Arbeitsvertrag).

Meine Chefin erklärt den Arbeitsvertrag mir sounds marked or slightly unusual and might be used only in special emphasis contexts. For normal, neutral German, use:

• Meine Chefin erklärt mir den Arbeitsvertrag.

Can I put mir at the beginning, like Mir erklärt meine Chefin den Arbeitsvertrag?

Yes. That is also grammatically correct and sounds quite natural.

Here, Mir is the first element for emphasis ("to me"):

• Mir → first element
• erklärt → second element (finite verb, still in second position)
• meine Chefin den Arbeitsvertrag → rest

Sentence with neutral emphasis:

• Meine Chefin erklärt mir den Arbeitsvertrag.

Sentence emphasizing me as the person:

• Mir erklärt meine Chefin den Arbeitsvertrag.

Both are fine; the difference is mainly in emphasis and style.

In English we say “explain the contract to me”, but in German it is jemandem etwas erklären. How does that pattern work?

The typical German structure for erklären is:

• jemandem (dative: to someone) etwas (accusative: something) erklären

So the pattern is:

• person → dative
• thing → accusative

In the sentence:

• mir (to me) → dative
• den Arbeitsvertrag (the contract) → accusative

This corresponds to English:

• explain the contract (direct object) to me (prepositional phrase)

So conceptually it is the same roles, but:

• English uses a preposition (to me)
• German uses the dative case (mir) without a preposition.

Could the sentence also be Sie erklärt mir den Arbeitsvertrag instead of Meine Chefin erklärt mir den Arbeitsvertrag?

Yes, that is possible, if it is clear from context who sie refers to.

• Meine Chefin erklärt mir den Arbeitsvertrag.
  → My female boss explains the work contract to me.

• Sie erklärt mir den Arbeitsvertrag.
  → She explains the work contract to me.

The meaning is the same if everyone knows that sie refers to your boss. The first version is more explicit; the second uses a pronoun under the assumption that the person has already been mentioned.

Is Chefin an informal word? Are there other ways to say “boss”?

Chefin is quite common and neutral in everyday spoken German. It is not rude or slang; it is the normal word for female boss.

Other options:

• mein(e) Vorgesetzte / mein Vorgesetzter
  → more formal, means superior
• meine Arbeitgeberin / mein Arbeitgeber
  → employer (slightly different nuance: the employing person or company)

For ordinary conversation about your boss at work, meine Chefin is very standard and natural.

Could I leave out den Arbeitsvertrag or mir, and what would that change?

Yes, you can omit one of them if the context is clear, but the meaning changes slightly:

1. Leaving out den Arbeitsvertrag:

   • Meine Chefin erklärt mir.
     This sounds incomplete in isolation. You would normally expect what she explains. It can work only if it is absolutely clear from context (for example, after several sentences about the contract).

2. Leaving out mir:

   • Meine Chefin erklärt den Arbeitsvertrag.
     Now the focus is only that she explains the contract, without saying to whom. This is perfectly grammatical and natural; it just omits the listener.

The full sentence Meine Chefin erklärt mir den Arbeitsvertrag clearly expresses all three roles:

• who explains (Meine Chefin)
• what is explained (den Arbeitsvertrag)
• to whom it is explained (mir).