Word
Die Kinder spielen im Garten Fußball.
Meaning
The children play soccer in the garden.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Die Kinder spielen im Garten Fußball.
das Kind
the child
spielen
to play
in
in
dem
the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
Questions & Answers about Die Kinder spielen im Garten Fußball.
Why is it Die Kinder and not Das Kinder, since Kind is neuter (das Kind)?
In German, singular and plural often have different articles.
- Singular: das Kind (neuter)
- Plural: die Kinder (all plural nouns use die in the nominative)
So:
- das Kind spielt – the child plays
- die Kinder spielen – the children play
The verb ending also changes:
- spielt with das Kind (3rd person singular)
- spielen with die Kinder (3rd person plural)
Why is the verb spielen in second position, even though Die Kinder is two words?
In German, the finite verb (the conjugated verb) must be in the second element position of a main clause.
The key is: elements, not words.
Sentence structure:
- Die Kinder – this whole phrase is element 1 (the subject)
- spielen – this is element 2 (the finite verb)
- im Garten Fußball – everything else comes after
So Die Kinder spielen im Garten Fußball follows the verb-second (V2) rule correctly.
What cases are used in this sentence, and why?