Das Kind macht das selbst.

The child does that by itself.

Breakdown of Das Kind macht das selbst.

• das Kind: the child
• machen: to do
• das: that
• selbst: even

Questions & Answers about Das Kind macht das selbst.

Why is das used twice in this sentence, and do they mean the same thing?

The two das have different grammatical roles:

• Das Kind: Here Das is the definite article (like the) in the nominative case, matching Kind (a neuter noun). So Das Kind = the child (subject).
• macht das: Here das is a pronoun in the accusative case, meaning that or it (the thing that is being done). So macht das = does that / does it (object).

So:

• First Das = the
• Second das = that / it

Why is the first Das capitalized, but the second das is not?

German capitalization rules explain this:

• Das before Kind is a definite article, and Kind is a noun. All nouns in German are capitalized, but articles are not.
  
  • Only Kind is capitalized as the noun: Das Kind.
• The second das is a pronoun (meaning that/it) and pronouns are not capitalized in the middle of a sentence.

So the capitalization pattern is:

• Das Kind (article + capitalized noun)
• macht das selbst (verb + lower-case pronoun + adverb)

Why is Kind neuter (das Kind) instead of masculine or feminine, when a child is clearly a person?

In German, grammatical gender does not always match biological sex or natural gender.

• The word Kind is grammatically neuter (das Kind) for any child, regardless of whether the child is a boy or a girl.
• If you want to specify, you use different nouns:
  • der Junge = the boy (masculine)
  • das Mädchen = the girl (also neuter, because of the -chen diminutive ending)

So:

• das Kind is neuter by dictionary rule.
• This is purely grammatical; it does not mean the child is “neutral” as a person.

What exactly does selbst mean here, and how is it different from allein?

In this sentence:

• selbst means by itself / on its own / itself, with a focus on who performs the action, often implying without help.
• allein means alone, and focuses more on being without company.

Compare:

• Das Kind macht das selbst.
  → The child does it itself, without help from others.
• Das Kind ist allein.
  → The child is alone, without other people around.

You can say:

• Das Kind macht das allein.

This often also means the child does it without help, but the nuance is a bit more on being by itself / not with others, while selbst stresses doing it on one’s own initiative or ability.

In everyday speech there is a lot of overlap, and both are often understood as “without help” in this kind of sentence.

Could I say Das Kind macht es selbst instead of Das Kind macht das selbst? What’s the difference between das and es here?

Yes, you can say both, but there is a nuance:

• Das Kind macht es selbst.
  
  • es refers to some previously mentioned thing or activity.
  • It’s a neutral, unstressed object pronoun = it.
• Das Kind macht das selbst.
  
  • das is a demonstrative pronoun, more like that.
  • It sounds a bit more pointed or contrastive, like: That thing (we’re talking about), the child does that itself.

In many everyday contexts, especially in speech:

• macht es selbst = more typical and neutral.
• macht das selbst = can sound a bit more emphatic or contrastive (e.g. compared to someone else doing it, or compared to doing something else).

Is selbst a reflexive pronoun here, like “myself”, “yourself”, “himself”?

No. In this sentence, selbst is an emphasizing adverb, not a reflexive pronoun.

• German reflexive pronouns are forms like mich, dich, sich, uns, euch (e.g. Ich wasche mich. – I wash myself).
• selbst adds emphasis to who does the action:
  • Das Kind macht das. – The child does it.
  • Das Kind macht das selbst. – The child does it itself / by itself (not someone else).

You can combine selbst with reflexive pronouns in other sentences, for strong emphasis:

• Ich wasche mich selbst. – I wash myself (emphasis: nobody else washes me).

Can I leave out das and just say Das Kind macht selbst?

In this context, no. You need a direct object for machen.

• machen normally means to do / to make (something).
• Without an object, macht would feel incomplete or need a very specific idiomatic context.

Das Kind macht das selbst. is:

• Subject: Das Kind
• Verb: macht
• Object: das
• Adverb: selbst

Without das, you are missing the “what”: The child does _ itself. So the sentence is not grammatical in standard German in this meaning.

What is the grammatical form of macht, and how is it built from machen?

• machen is the infinitive: to do / to make.
• macht is the 3rd person singular, present tense form.

Present tense of machen:

• ich mache – I do / make
• du machst – you (singular, informal) do / make
• er / sie / es macht – he / she / it does / makes
• wir machen – we do / make
• ihr macht – you (plural, informal) do / make
• sie / Sie machen – they / you (formal) do / make

In Das Kind macht das selbst., Das Kind is 3rd person singular, so the verb form is macht.

Does machen mean “to do” or “to make”? How should I think about it?

machen can cover the meanings of both English “do” and “make”, depending on context:

• Hausaufgaben machen – to do homework
• einen Kuchen machen – to make a cake
• Lärm machen – to make noise
• Sport machen – to do sports

In Das Kind macht das selbst., macht is best understood as “does” (the child does that itself), but the core idea is simply performing or producing some action or thing.

You can’t automatically translate every English “do/make” with machen, but as a beginner, it’s okay to think of machen as “do/make” and learn common collocations over time.

Why doesn’t German use an auxiliary verb like English “does”? Why not something like Das Kind tut das selbst?

German normally does not need a separate auxiliary like “does” in the simple present:

• English: The child does that itself.
• German: Das Kind macht das selbst.

The verb machen itself carries the full meaning and tense; there is no separate do-helper.

You can say tut (from tun) in German, but:

• tun is less neutral and is often used:
  • in fixed expressions: weh tun, Gutes tun
  • for emphasis: Was tust du da?
• Das Kind tut das selbst. is possible but sounds more colloquial and can feel a bit odd or overemphatic in many contexts compared to macht.

For a standard, neutral sentence, macht is the natural choice here.

Can I change the word order and say Das Kind selbst macht das? Does that mean the same thing?

Das Kind selbst macht das is also correct, but the emphasis changes.

• Das Kind macht das selbst.
  → Focus on who does the action without help:
  The child does it itself (not with help / not by others).
• Das Kind selbst macht das.
  → Focus on who the subject is, contrasting it with others:
  The child itself does that (not the parents, not the teacher).

So:

• At the end: selbst modifies the action → does it itself.
• Right after the noun: selbst modifies the subject → the child itself (as opposed to someone else) does it.

Both are grammatical; you pick the one that matches what you want to emphasize.

Is there a difference between selbst and selber in this sentence?

In everyday German, selbst and selber are almost interchangeable in this meaning.

• Das Kind macht das selbst.
• Das Kind macht das selber.

Both are widely used to mean “The child does it itself / by itself.”

Nuances:

• selbst sounds a bit more neutral or standard.
• selber can sound a bit more colloquial or regional in some areas, but it’s very common and not “wrong”.

Most native speakers switch between them freely.

How do I pronounce macht, especially the ch?

Pronunciation tips:

• ma-: like “mah” in “mama” (short a).
• -ch-: this is the ach-sound, a voiceless velar fricative:
  • Similar to the “ch” in Scottish “loch” or German “Bach”.
  • It is produced farther back in the throat than the English “k”, with continuous airflow.
• -t at the end is a clear, hard t.

Also note final devoicing:

• Even if the verb stem ends in -g, -b, or -d, word-final consonants are pronounced as k, p, or t.
• Here it’s already -t, so you just pronounce a strong t.

So macht sounds roughly like: [maxt], with a harsh ch sound.

What’s the difference between das in this sentence and dass with double s?

In Das Kind macht das selbst., only das with one s appears, and it has two roles:

• Das (article) in Das Kind.
• das (pronoun) in macht das.

dass with double s is a conjunction, like “that” in sentences such as:

• Ich weiß, dass das Kind das selbst macht.
  = I know that the child does that itself.

So:

• das (one s) can be: article (the), pronoun (that/it), or sometimes a relative pronoun (that/which).
• dass (double s) is only a subordinating conjunction (that introducing a clause).

In the given sentence, dass would be completely wrong; you must use das.