Breakdown of Die Hitze schadet dem Reifen.
die Hitze
the heat
der Reifen
the tire
schaden
to harm or damage
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Questions & Answers about Die Hitze schadet dem Reifen.
Why is it dem Reifen and not den Reifen?
Because the verb schaden takes the dative case, not the accusative.
- schaden + dative = to be harmful to someone/something
- So:
- dem Reifen = to the tire / the tire as the thing affected
For a native English speaker, this is important because English does not show this kind of case marking clearly, but German does.
What case is Die Hitze?
Die Hitze is in the nominative case because it is the subject of the sentence — the thing doing the action, or in this case, causing the harm.
So the structure is:
- Die Hitze = subject, nominative
- schadet = verb
- dem Reifen = dative object
Why is it die Hitze? What does die tell me here?
Hitze is a feminine noun, so its article in the nominative singular is die.
So:
- die Hitze = feminine singular nominative
This is not the plural here. The noun Hitze is singular, and the verb schadet is also singular, which confirms that.