Die Zeugenaussage beschreibt den Tatort genau.

German very often combines nouns into one compound noun. Here:

• Zeuge = witness
• Aussage = statement, testimony

So Zeugenaussage means witness statement or testimony. In German, this is normally written as one word, not two.

Die is the definite article for Zeugenaussage here. The noun Aussage is feminine, so in the nominative singular it takes die:

• die Aussage = the statement

Because Zeugenaussage is a compound ending in -aussage, it keeps the gender of Aussage, so it is also feminine:

• die Zeugenaussage

Because Tatort is the direct object of the verb beschreibt.

The verb beschreiben takes an accusative object, so der Tatort changes to den Tatort in the masculine accusative:

• nominative: der Tatort
• accusative: den Tatort

This is one of the most important case changes in German: masculine nouns often change their article in the accusative.

You can tell from both case marking and verb agreement.

• Die Zeugenaussage is nominative, so it is the subject.
• den Tatort is accusative, so it is the direct object.

So:

• Die Zeugenaussage = the thing doing the describing
• den Tatort = the thing being described

In English, word order usually tells you this. In German, the articles often help you see it more clearly.

Beschreiben is the infinitive, meaning to describe.

In this sentence, the verb is conjugated for:

• 3rd person singular
• present tense
• subject: die Zeugenaussage

So:

• ich beschreibe
• du beschreibst
• er/sie/es beschreibt

Since Zeugenaussage is a singular noun, the correct form is beschreibt.

German main clauses usually follow the verb-second rule.

In this sentence:

1. Die Zeugenaussage
2. beschreibt
3. den Tatort genau

So the conjugated verb beschreibt must come in the second position.

This is a core German word-order rule. Even if you move something else to the front, the verb still stays second:

• Die Zeugenaussage beschreibt den Tatort genau.
• Den Tatort beschreibt die Zeugenaussage genau.

Both are possible, though the first is the more neutral version.

Genau is an adverb. Here it means something like precisely, accurately, or in detail, depending on context.

It modifies the verb beschreibt, telling you how the witness statement describes the crime scene.

So the structure is:

• beschreibt = describes
• genau = accurately / in detail

Adverbs in German can often move around more than in English, but this position is very natural.

Here, genau comes after the object:

• Die Zeugenaussage beschreibt den Tatort genau.

That sounds normal and idiomatic. German often places this kind of adverb later in the clause.

You may also see a different word order in some contexts, but this version is the most straightforward one for a learner.

In German, all nouns are capitalized.

So:

• Zeugenaussage
• Tatort

must both begin with capital letters. This is a standard spelling rule in German and helps learners identify nouns more easily.

Not exactly. German noun gender is not always predictable from the ending alone, though some endings give useful clues.

You simply learn this noun as:

• der Tatort = the crime scene

Then in the sentence, because it is accusative masculine, it becomes:

• den Tatort

So it is best to memorize German nouns together with their articles.

Mostly, yes, but not perfectly.

A very close word-for-word breakdown is:

• Die Zeugenaussage = the witness statement
• beschreibt = describes
• den Tatort = the crime scene
• genau = accurately / precisely / in detail

But natural English may choose different wording depending on context. The important thing for learning German is to notice the grammar:

• subject in nominative
• object in accusative
• verb in second position
• adverb modifying the verb