Breakdown of Unsere Gegner sind schnell, aber nicht unfair.
Questions & Answers about Unsere Gegner sind schnell, aber nicht unfair.
Unsere means our. It is the possessive determiner for wir (we).
The ending -e is there because:
- Gegner is plural
- after a possessive determiner (like unser), plural nouns in the nominative case take -e
Pattern (nominative, plural, after a possessive):
- unsere Gegner – our opponents
- meine Freunde – my friends
- seine Eltern – his parents
So the base form is unser, and the correct nominative plural form is unsere.
Here Gegner is plural: opponents.
Clues:
- The verb is sind (are), which is plural.
- The determiner unsere is the plural form of unser.
In German, the singular is:
- der Gegner – the opponent
The plural is:
- die Gegner – the opponents (same spelling as singular in this case; the article and verb show the number)
Gegner is grammatically masculine in the singular:
- singular: der Gegner (masculine)
- plural: die Gegner
In this sentence it is plural, and in the plural you don’t directly see the gender in the ending of Gegner itself, but gender still matters for:
- singular forms (der/ein/mein/unser etc.)
- adjective endings in other contexts
Examples:
- Der Gegner ist schnell. – The opponent is fast.
- Unsere Gegner sind schnell. – Our opponents are fast.
Sind is the 3rd person plural form of sein (to be), used with plural subjects.
- er/sie/es ist – he/she/it is
- sie sind – they are
Because Gegner is plural here (our opponents = they), the correct verb form is:
- Unsere Gegner sind … – Our opponents are …
In this sentence, schnell and unfair are predicate adjectives: they come after the verb sein and describe the subject.
German rules:
Adjectives before a noun usually take endings:
- schnelle Gegner – fast opponents
- unfaire Gegner – unfair opponents
Adjectives after sein, werden, bleiben usually do not take endings:
- Die Gegner sind schnell. – The opponents are fast.
- Die Gegner sind unfair. – The opponents are unfair.
So in Unsere Gegner sind schnell, aber nicht unfair, both adjectives correctly appear without endings.
Aber is a coordinating conjunction meaning but.
It connects two clauses or two statements that contrast with each other:
- Unsere Gegner sind schnell – Our opponents are fast
- (sie sind) nicht unfair – (they are) not unfair
With aber, you get the contrast:
- Unsere Gegner sind schnell, aber nicht unfair.
→ They are fast, but not unfair.
Word order: aber does not change the order in the second clause here; nicht unfair stays as in a normal statement.
Yes, there is a nuance.
- fair = fair
- nicht unfair = not unfair
Nicht unfair is a kind of understatement (a form of litotes). It can suggest:
- at minimum, they do not behave unfairly
- possibly they are fair, but the speaker is being cautious or modest
- it sounds slightly weaker or more reserved than clearly saying fair
Compare:
- Unsere Gegner sind schnell und fair. – Our opponents are fast and fair.
- Unsere Gegner sind schnell, aber nicht unfair. – Our opponents are fast, but not unfair.
→ This focuses more on denying that their speed makes them cheat or behave badly.
No, unfair nicht is not natural here.
In this sentence, nicht negates the adjective unfair as a whole expression unfair:
- correct: nicht unfair – not unfair
- incorrect: unfair nicht
If you want to negate an adjective in predicate position, the normal pattern is:
- Sie sind nicht unfair. – They are not unfair.
- Sie sind nicht schnell. – They are not fast.
So nicht comes before the adjective it negates.
German capitalizes nouns but not ordinary adjectives.
- Gegner is a noun → capitalized.
- schnell and unfair are adjectives → written with a lower-case initial letter.
This is a general rule in German:
- Das Haus ist groß. – Haus capitalized (noun), groß not (adjective).
- Der Gegner ist unfair. – Gegner capitalized, unfair not.
Yes, grammatically you can say:
- Unsere Gegner sind schnell, aber unfair.
This changes the meaning:
Unsere Gegner sind schnell, aber unfair.
→ Our opponents are fast but unfair. (their speed is combined with unfair behavior)Unsere Gegner sind schnell, aber nicht unfair.
→ Our opponents are fast but not unfair. (they are fast without being unfair)
Unfair in German is indeed a borrowing from English, but it is now a very common and standard word in modern German.
Typical usage:
- Das ist unfair. – That’s unfair.
- Ein unfaires Spiel – an unfair game
There are more “native” or older German ways to express similar ideas, such as:
- ungerecht – unjust
- unsportlich – unsportsmanlike
But in everyday language, unfair is completely normal.
In the accusative plural, unsere Gegner actually stays the same:
- Nominative plural (subject):
- Unsere Gegner sind schnell, aber nicht unfair.
- Accusative plural (direct object):
- Wir respektieren unsere Gegner, weil sie schnell, aber nicht unfair sind.
– We respect our opponents because they are fast but not unfair.
- Wir respektieren unsere Gegner, weil sie schnell, aber nicht unfair sind.
The form unsere Gegner is identical in nominative and accusative plural.
It would change in other cases, for example:
- Dative plural: unseren Gegnern
- Wir spielen gegen unseren Gegnern fair.
- Genitive plural: unserer Gegner
- Die Strategie unserer Gegner ist bekannt.
Approximate pronunciation: [ˈgeːg-nɐ].
- Ge- like gay (but without the English diphthong; a pure long e sound)
- the g in both positions is a hard g (as in go), not like the English j in gem
- -ner is reduced, often sounding like -nər in relaxed speech
Rough English approximation: GAYG-nuh (with a clearer, longer e in the first syllable).