Der Vokal in diesem Wort ist kurz.

to be

Breakdown of Der Vokal in diesem Wort ist kurz.

• in: in
• kurz: short
• das Wort: the word

Questions & Answers about Der Vokal in diesem Wort ist kurz.

Why is it der Vokal? I thought German articles depended on the noun’s gender.

They do. Vokal is a masculine noun in German, so its basic article is der.

• der Vokal = the vowel
• das Wort = the word

Grammatical gender in German does not always match natural gender or any pattern that feels obvious to English speakers, so it usually has to be learned with each noun.

Why is it diesem Wort and not dieses Wort?

Because in is followed by the dative case here.

German has some prepositions, including in, that can take either:

• accusative for movement toward somewhere
• dative for location

In this sentence, in diesem Wort means in this word, which is a location, not motion. So German uses the dative.

Since Wort is neuter singular, the dative form of dieses is diesem:

• nominative: dieses Wort
• dative: in diesem Wort

How do I know that in takes dative here?