President's House in Cases Genitive and Accusative: Oh, Complicated!

Bahasa Indonesia - Deutsch

In the beginning it was easy to build sentences with accusative articles:

1. with definite article:

Ich finde den Balkon zu klein. (den Balkon: masculine, singular)

Ich finde das Haus teuer. (das Haus: neutral, singular)

Ich finde die Toilette zu dunkel. (die Toilette: feminine, singular)

2. with indefinite article:

Das Haus von Alex und Shinta hat einen Garten. (einen Garten: masculine, singular)

Das Haus von Alex und Shinta hat ein Arbeitszimmer. (ein Arbeitszimmer: neutral, singular)

Das Haus von Alex und Shinta hat eine Garage. (eine Garage: feminine, singular)

3. with the article for negation "kein":

Das Haus von Ryan und Puri hat keinen Garten. (keinen Garten: masculine, singular)

Das Haus von Ryan und Puri hat kein Arbeitszimmer. (kein Arbeitszimmer: neutral, singular)

Das Haus von Ryan und Puri hat keine Garage. (keine Garage: feminine, singular)

My student Steffi (not the real name), who ist an assistant at a private university in Karawaci, could build further several sentences according to the given examples. But a problem arose then, as the genitive was involved. Examples: Praesidents Haus (president's house), Nathans Haus (Nathan's house).

How can the declination of the accusative be built? Where should the article of Haus "das" be put? Which sentence is here correct:...?

1. Praesidents Haus (nouns in genitive with s):

a) Wie findest du das Praesidents Haus?

b) Wie findest du Praesidents Haus?

2. Nathans Haus (someone's names in genitive with s):

c) Wie findest du das Nathans Haus?

d) Wie findest du Nathans Haus?

In Steffi's opinion b) and d) are correct according to the English grammar. It should be also correct according to the German grammar. :-)

My friends in Germany express their opinion. I just consider all friends. :-)

Achim in Esslingen:

I think it really good, what you do... with the German lessons. To your 2nd question: d) is the right answer. To the first question: nobody would say a) nor b); we would say: Wie findest du das Haus des Praesidenten? Or: Wie findest du das Praesidentenhaus?

Nicole in Hamburg:

Praesidents Haus:  here is the question if Praesidents Haus is a name itself or if you mean the house of the president. If it is a name itself, the question should be: Wie findest du das Praesidents-Haus? If it is about the house of the president, I would make the interrogative as follows: Wie findest du das Praesidentenhaus? or: Wie findest du das Haus des Praesidenten?

Nathans Haus:  in this sentence it depends also, if it is about Nathan's house (the house belongs to Nathan) or if Nathans Haus is a name itself. The sentence d) is correct as long as it is about the house which belongs to Nathan (a friend or a real person).

Steffi meant, that it is about the house of the president and about the house of a friend. So, Steffi, the following sentences are correct:
1. Wie findest du das Haus des Praesidenten? or: Wie findest du das Praesidentenhaus?
2.  Wie findest du Nathans Haus?

Well, however in this case the genitive must be explained shortly, which is actually too early for Steffi. She was on A1 course, just learned the accusative from the Unit 4 of the course book studio d Deutsch als Fremdsprache. About genitive (das Haus des Praesidenten) it is just learned on A2 course, according to the course book studio d Deutsch als Fremdsprache in the Unit 11. Still long! :-)

The genitive (Nathans Haus) shouldn't be complicated, however it is just learned also on A2 course, according to the course book studio d Deutsch als Fremdsprache in the Unit 2. (Berlin: Cornelsen, 2006)


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