Breakdown of Der Lehrer erklärt das schwierige Thema sehr bildlich.
Questions & Answers about Der Lehrer erklärt das schwierige Thema sehr bildlich.
Der Lehrer is in the nominative case and das schwierige Thema is in the accusative case.
- Der Lehrer is the subject: the one doing the explaining. Subjects in German take the nominative.
- Das schwierige Thema is the direct object: the thing being explained. Direct objects in German normally take the accusative.
So we have:
- Wer? / Was? erklärt? → Der Lehrer → nominative
- Wen? / Was? erklärt der Lehrer? → das schwierige Thema → accusative
Because Thema is neuter in German.
- Nominative singular: das Thema
- Accusative singular (for neuter): das Thema – neuter has the same form in nominative and accusative.
So in the accusative singular:
- masculine: den Lehrer
- feminine: die Frau
- neuter: das Thema
You only use den with masculine singular nouns in the accusative, not with neuter ones.