Breakdown of Die Gegnerin bleibt nach dem Spiel freundlich.
dem
the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
bleiben
to remain
freundlich
friendly
nach
after
Questions & Answers about Die Gegnerin bleibt nach dem Spiel freundlich.
What does Gegnerin mean exactly, and how is it different from Gegner?
Gegner is the general word for opponent. It is grammatically masculine, but it can be used in a gender‑neutral way in some contexts.
Gegnerin is specifically a female opponent. The ending -in is a common way to form the feminine version of many nouns that refer to people:
- der Lehrer → die Lehrerin (male teacher → female teacher)
- der Spieler → die Spielerin (male player → female player)
- der Gegner → die Gegnerin (male opponent → female opponent)
So Gegnerin tells you explicitly that the opponent is female.
Why is it Die Gegnerin and not Der Gegnerin at the beginning of the sentence?
The subject of the sentence is Gegnerin, which is a feminine noun.
In the nominative case (the case used for the subject), the definite articles are:
- der – masculine
- die – feminine
- das – neuter
- die – plural
Because Gegnerin is feminine and is the subject, you must use die:
Die Gegnerin bleibt nach dem Spiel freundlich.
Der Gegnerin would be wrong here, because der with a feminine noun appears in other cases (e.g. dative or genitive), not in the nominative.