Breakdown of Der Lehrer erklärt das schwierige Thema sehr bildlich.
sehr
very
schwierig
difficult
das Thema
the topic
erklären
to explain
Questions & Answers about Der Lehrer erklärt das schwierige Thema sehr bildlich.
What grammatical cases are der Lehrer and das schwierige Thema in, and why?
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
Why is it das schwierige Thema and not den schwierigen Thema?
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.
Why does schwierige end in here? How do the adjective endings work?