Breakdown of Ich höre den Podcast im Garten.
in
in
dem
the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
ich
I
der Garten
the garden
Questions & Answers about Ich höre den Podcast im Garten.
Why is it den Podcast and not der Podcast?
Der Podcast is the basic (dictionary) form: nominative singular masculine.
In this sentence, Podcast is the direct object – the thing being listened to. In German, direct objects normally take the accusative case.
For masculine nouns:
- Nominative: der Podcast (subject)
- Accusative: den Podcast (direct object)
So:
- Der Podcast ist interessant. – The podcast is interesting. (subject → nominative)
- Ich höre den Podcast. – I (am) listen(ing to) the podcast. (object → accusative)
How do I know that Podcast is masculine?
You usually just have to learn the gender with the noun. For new loanwords like Podcast, German has to assign a gender, and often:
- Male humans → der
- Many technical devices or media formats → often der (e.g. der Blog, der Laptop, der Film)
But there are many exceptions, so the safest habit is: > Always learn a German noun with its article: der Podcast, die Musik, das Radio, etc.
Dictionaries and vocabulary apps will show you the gender.
In English we say “listen to the podcast”. Why does German say höre den Podcast without a word like “to”?