Das Amtsgericht prüft den Einspruch.

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Breakdown of Das Amtsgericht prüft den Einspruch.

• das Amtsgericht: the local court
• der Einspruch: the formal objection

Questions & Answers about Das Amtsgericht prüft den Einspruch.

Why is it das Amtsgericht?

Because Amtsgericht is a neuter noun in German.

• der = masculine
• die = feminine
• das = neuter

Here, Amtsgericht is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case: das Amtsgericht.

A useful thing to remember is that the grammatical gender of a noun in German does not always match anything logical in English. You simply learn the noun together with its article: das Amtsgericht.

Why is it den Einspruch and not der Einspruch?

Because Einspruch is the direct object here, so it takes the accusative case.

Einspruch is a masculine noun:

• nominative: der Einspruch
• accusative: den Einspruch

So:

• der Einspruch = when it is the subject
• den Einspruch = when it is the direct object

This is one of the most important patterns in German: masculine nouns are the ones where the article changes most clearly in the accusative.

How can I tell which word is the subject and which is the object?