Breakdown of Die Wunde an meinem Knie ist klein, aber mein Ellbogen tut auch weh.
Questions & Answers about Die Wunde an meinem Knie ist klein, aber mein Ellbogen tut auch weh.
Because German nouns have grammatical gender:
- die Wunde = feminine
- der Ellbogen = masculine
- das Knie = neuter
That affects the article and other words around the noun:
- die Wunde
- mein Ellbogen
- mein Knie
Notice that mein can be used with masculine and neuter nouns in the nominative singular, so both mein Ellbogen and mein Knie look the same there.
Because an can take either the accusative or the dative, depending on meaning.
Here it means location: on / at my knee, so German uses the dative.
- an meinem Knie = at/on my knee
If there were movement toward something, accusative would be possible in other contexts, but not here.
Also, mein changes in the dative neuter:
- nominative: mein Knie
- dative: meinem Knie