Breakdown of Der Umweg dauert nur fünf Minuten und macht den Spaziergang angenehmer.
und
and
machen
to make
angenehm
pleasant
der Spaziergang
the walk
Questions & Answers about Der Umweg dauert nur fünf Minuten und macht den Spaziergang angenehmer.
Why is it Der Umweg and not Die/Das Umweg?
Umweg is a masculine noun in German, so it takes the masculine article:
- Nominative singular: der Umweg
- Accusative singular: den Umweg
- Dative singular: dem Umweg
In the sentence, Der Umweg is the subject (the thing that “lasts” and “makes”), so it’s in the nominative case, hence der.
You simply have to learn the grammatical gender of each noun:
- der Weg (the way, path)
- der Umweg (the detour)
Why are Umweg and Spaziergang capitalized?
In German, all nouns are capitalized, regardless of where they appear in the sentence.
So:
- der Umweg – detour (noun → capitalized)
- der Spaziergang – walk (noun → capitalized)
- Minuten – minutes (noun → capitalized)
Verbs (dauert, macht), adjectives (angenehmer), and other parts of speech are not capitalized unless they start a sentence or are proper names.
What does Umweg literally mean, and how is it formed?