Wir singen den Refrain.

Because Refrain is the direct object of the verb singen, so it takes the accusative case.

• der Refrain = nominative singular
• den Refrain = accusative singular

In this sentence:

• Wir = subject
• singen = verb
• den Refrain = direct object

So German uses den because Refrain is masculine and in the accusative.

Refrain is masculine: der Refrain.

That is why its forms look like this:

• nominative: der Refrain
• accusative: den Refrain
• dative: dem Refrain
• genitive: des Refrains

For this sentence, the important contrast is der versus den.

Because wir uses the same present-tense form as the infinitive for most German verbs.

The verb singen is conjugated like this in the present tense:

• ich singe
• du singst
• er/sie/es singt
• wir singen
• ihr singt
• sie/Sie singen

So Wir singen means we sing or we are singing, depending on context.

It can mean either one.

German present tense often covers both:

• we sing
• we are singing

The exact meaning depends on context.

So Wir singen den Refrain could mean:

• We sing the chorus in general
• We are singing the chorus right now

German does not usually need a separate form like English are singing.

Yes. This is the normal main-clause word order in German:

• Wir = first position
• singen = second position
• den Refrain = after the verb

So the standard pattern is:

Subject + verb + object

That gives:

Wir singen den Refrain.

German is often described as a verb-second language in main clauses, which means the conjugated verb usually comes in the second position.

Yes. That is also correct.

German can move elements to the first position for emphasis or style, as long as the conjugated verb is still in the second position:

• Wir singen den Refrain.
• Den Refrain singen wir.

The second version emphasizes den Refrain more, something like The chorus is what we sing or It’s the chorus that we sing.

Because all nouns are capitalized in German.

So Refrain gets a capital R because it is a noun. This is true whether it appears in the middle of a sentence or not.

Other examples:

• das Lied
• die Musik
• der Sänger

Yes. It is used in German, although it originally comes from French.

In German, der Refrain means the chorus or refrain of a song.

Learners may also see Chorus in music-related contexts, but Refrain is a normal and common German word.

Roughly:

• wir sounds a bit like veer
• singen sounds roughly like ZING-en, but with a German ng sound

A few helpful points:

• w in German sounds like English v
• s at the start of singen sounds like z
• ng is pronounced as one nasal sound, like in English sing

So Wir singen is approximately veer ZING-en.

Yes, in this sentence German naturally uses the article: den Refrain.

English sometimes leaves out articles in certain expressions, but in German nouns often appear with an article, especially when referring to a specific thing such as the chorus of a song.

So Wir singen Refrain would not be correct standard German here. You need den Refrain.

Here are a few useful comparisons:

• Ich singe den Refrain. = I sing / am singing the chorus.
• Du singst den Refrain. = You sing / are singing the chorus.
• Er singt den Refrain. = He sings / is singing the chorus.
• Wir singen den Refrain. = We sing / are singing the chorus.
• Ihr singt den Refrain. = You all sing / are singing the chorus.
• Sie singen den Refrain. = They sing / are singing the chorus.

This helps show how the verb changes depending on the subject.