Mission—Team—FAQ—Privacy—Terms—Sponsors—Grammar—Typing Course—Donate

© 2026 Elon Automation B.V.

Learn Hardcore German: Das Line-up nennt die Vorband. - The line-up names the supporting act.

Hardcore German
/Going to a live concert
/Das Line-up nennt die Vorband.

Das Line-up nennt die Vorband.

Das Line-up nennt die Vorband.

The line-up names the supporting act.

Breakdown of Das Line-up nennt die Vorband.

the supporting act

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching German grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning German now

Questions & Answers about Das Line-up nennt die Vorband.

Why is it das Line-up?

Because Line-up is a borrowed noun in German, and it is usually treated as neuter, so it takes das in the singular.

In this sentence, das Line-up is also the subject of the sentence, so das is the nominative article.

das Line-up = the line-up

Is Line-up really used in German?

Yes. In music, festivals, concerts, and similar contexts, Line-up is a common borrowed word in German. It refers to the list of performers or the set of artists appearing at an event.

It is usually written Line-up with a hyphen.

You may also see the plural:

die Line-ups

What does nennt mean here?

nennt is the 3rd person singular present tense of nennen.

The verb nennen often means:

to name
to mention
to state
to list

In this sentence, it means something like mentions or lists, not is called.

For example:

Er nennt einen Namen. = He names/mentions a name.
Das Programm nennt alle Künstler. = The program lists all the artists.

Why is it die Vorband and not some other form?

Vorband is a feminine noun, so its article is die.

It comes from:

vor- = before
die Band = band

So die Vorband means the band that plays before the main act: the opening band or support band.

Also, nennen takes a direct object, so die Vorband is in the accusative case here. But for feminine singular nouns, the article is still die in both nominative and accusative, so the form does not change.

How do I know das Line-up is the subject and die Vorband is the object?

German word order helps here:

Das Line-up = subject
nennt = verb
die Vorband = direct object

This is a normal subject–verb–object sentence.

Also, the meaning of the verb helps:

something names / mentions / lists
something else is named / mentioned / listed

So the line-up is doing the action, and the opening band is receiving it.

Is nennt the same as heißt?

No, they are different.

nennen = to name / to call / to mention
heißen = to be called / to have the name

Compare:

Das Line-up nennt die Vorband. = The line-up mentions/lists the opening band.
Die Vorband heißt ... = The opening band is called ...

So nennt describes an action performed by the subject, while heißt describes the name something has.

Why doesn’t the verb come at the end?

Because this is a main clause in German, and in a main clause the finite verb normally comes in second position.

So:

Das Line-up = first element
nennt = second position
die Vorband = the rest

That is standard German main-clause word order.

Can Line-up and Vorband both be singular here?

Yes. Both are singular in this sentence:

das Line-up = one line-up
die Vorband = one opening band

Nothing in the sentence suggests plural.

If they were plural, the forms would look different, for example:

Die Line-ups nennen die Vorbands would be very unusual in real usage, but grammatically it would show plural forms.

In normal German, you would usually only see the singular here unless the context clearly talks about multiple events or multiple opening acts.

Your questions are stored by us to improve Elon.io