Learn Hardcore German: Heute pfeift die Schiedsrichterin ruhig und klar, was allen Spielerinnen Sicherheit gibt. - Today the female referee whistles calmly and clearly, which gives all the female players confidence.

Heute pfeift die Schiedsrichterin ruhig und klar, was allen Spielerinnen Sicherheit gibt.

Today the female referee whistles calmly and clearly, which gives all the female players confidence.

Breakdown of Heute pfeift die Schiedsrichterin ruhig und klar, was allen Spielerinnen Sicherheit gibt.

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Questions & Answers about Heute pfeift die Schiedsrichterin ruhig und klar, was allen Spielerinnen Sicherheit gibt.

Why does the sentence start with Heute instead of Die Schiedsrichterin? Can I also say Die Schiedsrichterin pfeift heute ruhig und klar?

Yes, Die Schiedsrichterin pfeift heute ruhig und klar, was allen Spielerinnen Sicherheit gibt is also completely correct.

German main clauses are verb‑second (V2): the conjugated verb must be in second position, but almost anything can stand in first position.

Version 1 (original): Heute pfeift die Schiedsrichterin …
- Focus/emphasis: on today (today, as opposed to other days).
Version 2: Die Schiedsrichterin pfeift heute …
- Focus/emphasis: more on the referee (this particular referee).

So starting with Heute is a matter of style and emphasis, not grammar; both orders are grammatical.

What exactly does pfeift mean in this context? Is the referee literally whistling?

Literally, pfeifen means “to whistle”.

In sports context, pfeifen is used specifically for a referee:

Die Schiedsrichterin pfeift gut/streng/ruhig.
= The referee referees / calls the game well/strictly/calmly.

So Heute pfeift die Schiedsrichterin ruhig und klar means:

Today the referee handles the game / makes her calls in a calm and clear way.

The physical act is whistling, but what’s really meant is her overall style of officiating.

Why is it die Schiedsrichterin and not der Schiedsrichter here?

Schiedsrichter is the base noun “referee”, grammatically masculine.

To form the explicitly female version, German adds -in:

der Schiedsrichter = male referee (or formerly generic)
die Schiedsrichterin = female referee

The article also changes:

der Schiedsrichter (masculine singular)
die Schiedsrichterin (feminine singular)

So die Schiedsrichterin tells you the referee is female.

In more gender‑inclusive modern usage, people might say for example:

Schiedsrichterinnen und Schiedsrichter (female and male referees)

Are ruhig and klar adjectives or adverbs here? How do they work in this sentence?

Formally they are adjectives, but in this sentence they are used adverbially (to describe how she whistles).

German often uses the base adjective form as an adverb, without any special ending:

Sie pfeift ruhig. = She whistles calmly.
Sie pfeift klar. = She whistles clearly.
Sie pfeift ruhig und klar. = She whistles calmly and clearly.

They do not agree in gender/case/number with anything here, because they do not describe a noun; they describe the verb action (pfeift).

What does the comma before was mean, and what kind of clause is was allen Spielerinnen Sicherheit gibt?

The comma introduces a subordinate clause.
Was allen Spielerinnen Sicherheit gibt is a relative clause referring not to a single word, but to the entire main clause:

Main clause: Heute pfeift die Schiedsrichterin ruhig und klar
Relative clause: was allen Spielerinnen Sicherheit gibt

Meaning:
“Today the referee whistles calmly and clearly, which gives all the players a feeling of security.”

So the comma marks the boundary between the main statement and the additional, dependent information that comments on the whole situation.

Why is the relative pronoun was used and not das or was das?

Here was is a relative pronoun, not a question word.

German uses was as a relative pronoun in a few main cases:

After indefinite pronouns like alles, etwas, nichts, viel:
- Alles, was er sagt, stimmt.
After neuter adjectives used as nouns:
- Das Gute, was er getan hat …
Most importantly here: to refer to an entire preceding clause or situation:
- Er kam zu spät, was alle ärgerte.
- Heute pfeift die Schiedsrichterin ruhig und klar, was allen Spielerinnen Sicherheit gibt.

You do not say was das in this structure. Either:

refer to a specific neuter noun with das (das, das … is usually avoided or rephrased), or
refer to the whole previous clause with was alone.

So was here means “which (thing / situation)”, pointing to the whole main clause.

Why is it allen Spielerinnen and not alle Spielerinnen?

Because of the case and the verb pattern.

The verb geben works like this:

jemandem etwas geben
= to give something to someone

So:

etwas = Sicherheit (accusative object)
jemandem = allen Spielerinnen (dative object, “to all (the) players”)

Alle Spielerinnen would be nominative plural (“all players” as the subject).
Here, the subject is die Schiedsrichterin. The players are the indirect object, so they must be in the dative plural:

Nominative plural: alle Spielerinnen
Dative plural: allen Spielerinnen

What case is allen Spielerinnen, and how can I see that from the sentence?

Allen Spielerinnen is dative plural.

You can see this from:

The verb geben, which requires:
- Accusative: what is given (Sicherheit)
- Dative: to whom it is given (jemandem → here allen Spielerinnen)
The endings:
- alle → allen in the dative plural
- Feminine plural noun endings in oblique cases often end in -n:
  - die Spielerinnen (nom./acc. pl.)
  - den Spielerinnen (dat. pl.) Here the article is omitted, but the -n remains: Spielerinnen.

So in was allen Spielerinnen Sicherheit gibt:

Sicherheit = accusative singular (what is given)
allen Spielerinnen = dative plural (to whom it is given)

Why is it Sicherheit gibt and not something like macht sicher or gibt zu Sicherheit?

German commonly uses the verb phrase jemandem Sicherheit geben:

literally: to give someone security
idiomatically: to make someone feel safe / give someone confidence

So:

was allen Spielerinnen Sicherheit gibt
= “which gives all the players (a feeling of) security.”

Alternatives are possible but slightly different:

… was alle Spielerinnen sicher macht
= “which makes all the players feel safe” (focus on the state “safe”)
gibt zu Sicherheit is not idiomatic German in this sense.

The collocation Sicherheit geben is the most natural here.

Why does the verb gibt come at the end of the clause was allen Spielerinnen Sicherheit gibt?

Because this is a subordinate clause, introduced by was.

In German:

Main clause: verb in second position (V2)
- Heute pfeift die Schiedsrichterin …
Subordinate clause: conjugated verb at the end
- …, weil sie ruhig und klar pfeift.
- …, was allen Spielerinnen Sicherheit gibt.

So in was allen Spielerinnen Sicherheit gibt:

was = first element (subordinator / relative pronoun)
allen Spielerinnen = dative object
Sicherheit = accusative object
gibt = moves to the end because of the subordinate‑clause word order rule.

Could the sentence also be Heute pfeift die Schiedsrichterin ruhig und klar, was Sicherheit allen Spielerinnen gibt?

Grammatically it’s not wrong, but it sounds unnatural.

Normal word order with geben is:

jemandem etwas geben → allen Spielerinnen Sicherheit geben
Dative object usually comes before the accusative object when both are full noun phrases.

Sicherheit allen Spielerinnen geben:

might be used only in special emphasis (strong focus on Sicherheit), and even then sounds unusual here.

So the standard, natural version is:

… was allen Spielerinnen Sicherheit gibt.

Is Spielerinnen automatically female players? How would you say “players” in general, regardless of gender?

Yes, Spielerinnen is the female plural: female players.

Basic forms:

der Spieler = male player (or traditionally “player (m.)”)
die Spielerin = female player
die Spieler = male players / mixed group (traditional generic masculine)
die Spielerinnen = female players

To say “players” in general, modern German often uses pair forms:

Spielerinnen und Spieler = female and male players

Other gender‑neutral options:

das Team = the team
die Spielenden (participial form, more formal/inclusive, less colloquial)

What is the tense of pfeift, and why is it not hat gepfiffen here?

Pfeift is present tense (3rd person singular).

In German, the present tense is normally used for:

actions happening now
general statements
near future (with a time expression)

Here, the situation is “today (right now) she is refereeing in a calm and clear way”, so:

Heute pfeift die Schiedsrichterin ruhig und klar …

Hat gepfiffen would be present perfect (she has whistled/refereed), used to talk about a completed past action, which doesn’t fit the meaning of an ongoing game today.