Checking items in a bag | Learn German in English

Sentence explanations

1. Kannst du mir helfen, meine Tasche zu prüfen?

   Can you help me check my bag?

   Kannst du

   can you

   mir

   to me

   helfen

   help

   meine

   my

   Tasche

   bag

   zu prüfen

   to check

   More detail

   Kannst du combines the modal verb können (“can, be able to”) with the subject pronoun du (“you,” singular informal). Kannst is the present-tense form for du; the ending -st marks that subject. In this yes/no question, the conjugated modal comes first. The infinitive that it controls appears later: Kannst du ... helfen? = “Can you help ...?” mir is the dative form of ich (“I”). Here it means “to me” and belongs with helfen: German helfen takes a dative person, so the pattern is jemandem helfen (“to help someone”). Compare mir helfen (“help me”) with dir helfen (“help you,” singular informal). Example: Kannst du mir helfen? — “Can you help me?” helfen is the infinitive “to help.” Because können is the modal verb, helfen stays in the infinitive and is placed at the end of this question. With a different subject, the infinitive remains helfen: Wir können helfen. — “We can help.” meine is the possessive determiner meaning “my” here. It agrees with the noun it modifies, not with the possessor: Tasche is feminine singular, and in this sentence it is the accusative object of prüfen, so the form is meine. The masculine or neuter singular accusative forms are meinen and mein, respectively; the form changes with the noun’s grammatical gender, number, and case. Tasche is the feminine noun “bag.” Its plural is Taschen. In meine Tasche, it is the thing being checked and therefore the object of the infinitive phrase. Example: Ich öffne meine Tasche. — “I open my bag.” zu prüfen is the infinitive construction “to check.” prüfen means “to check” or “to examine”; zu marks this infinitive as the action connected to helfen. The pattern jemandem helfen, etwas zu prüfen means “to help someone check something.” The noun phrase meine Tasche is the object of prüfen, while mir is the person receiving help. Together, Kannst du mir helfen asks whether the addressee is able and willing to help the speaker, and meine Tasche zu prüfen specifies the action. The whole utterance is therefore: “Can you help me check my bag?”

2. Ich kann sie mit dir durchsuchen.

   I can look through it with you.

   Ich kann

   I can

   sie

   it

   mit dir

   with you

   durchsuchen

   look through

   More detail

   Ich kann means “I can” here. kann is the first-person singular present form of the modal verb können; the subject is ich. With a modal verb, the other verb normally appears as an infinitive at the end: Ich kann helfen. — “I can help.” sie is the object of durchsuchen and means “it” in this utterance, referring to the thing being checked in the supplied context. The form sie can also have other grammatical uses in German, but here the translation and context support a singular object reading. As an object, it is in the accusative: Ich sehe sie. — “I see it.” mit dir means “with you.” The preposition mit requires the dative case, so the second-person singular pronoun changes from du to dir: Ich komme mit dir. — “I’m coming with you.” durchsuchen is the infinitive meaning “to search through” or “to look through” something. It is the lexical verb selected by kann, so it stays at the end of this sentence. It normally takes the thing searched as an accusative object: Wir durchsuchen die Tasche. — “We search through the bag.” Together, Ich kann + sie + mit dir + durchsuchen produces: “I can look through it with you.” The modal expresses ability or possibility, sie is the thing being looked through, and mit dir identifies the person accompanying the speaker. The sentence is neutral and reusable with another object, for example Ich kann den Schrank mit dir durchsuchen. — “I can search through the cupboard with you.”

3. Siehst du, ob etwas fehlt?

   Do you see anything missing?

   Siehst du

   do you see

   etwas

   anything

   fehlt

   is missing

   More detail

   Siehst du is the question form of sehen (“to see”). The verb changes from sehen to siehst with du in the present tense; the subject pronoun follows the verb here because German yes/no questions commonly use verb–subject order: Siehst du ...? = “Do you see ...?” etwas means “something” and, in this question, is naturally translated as “anything.” It is an indefinite pronoun, so it does not state a numeric count. A useful pattern is etwas + adjective/participle: Ich sehe etwas Neues. = “I see something new.” fehlt comes from the verb fehlen, “to be missing” or “to be absent.” It is the present-tense third-person singular form. The grammatical subject is etwas, which is singular, so the form is fehlt: Etwas fehlt. = “Something is missing.” This verb describes the missing thing as the subject; it is not the same pattern as English “someone misses something.” Together, etwas fehlt means “something is missing,” and the question Siehst du, ob etwas fehlt? asks whether you can see if anything is missing. The clause introduced by ob (“whether/if”) is an embedded yes/no question: Siehst du, ob ...? = “Do you see whether ...?” Here it refers generally to whether an item is absent, without specifying which item. The whole utterance is therefore: “Do you see anything missing?”

4. Deine Geldbörse und dein Handy sind beide hier.

   Your wallet and phone are both here.

   Deine

   your

   Geldbörse

   wallet

   dein

   your

   Handy

   mobile phone

   sind

   are

   beide

   both

   hier

   here

   More detail

   Deine means “your” here and belongs to the possessive determiner built from dein-. Its ending is -e because it accompanies the feminine singular noun Geldbörse in the nominative case. The capital letter is also required because this word begins the sentence. Compare the reusable pattern deine + feminine singular noun: Deine Tasche ist hier. — “Your bag is here.” Geldbörse means “wallet.” It is a feminine noun: die Geldbörse. In this sentence it is one member of the coordinated subject, together with dein Handy. dein is the same possessive determiner as deine, but it has no ending in this position because Handy is a neuter singular noun in the nominative: das Handy. The form therefore reflects both the possessor (“your”) and the noun phrase it determines. Compare dein Handy with deine Geldbörse; the possessor is the same, but the determiner ending differs. Example: Dein Buch ist hier. — “Your book is here.” Handy means “mobile phone” or “cell phone” in German. It is a neuter noun, das Handy; this grammatical gender is why the phrase uses dein Handy rather than deine Handy. sind is a form of sein, “to be.” It is the present-tense form for a plural subject, including sie sind (“they are”) and the polite Sie sind (“you are”). Here the subject is plural because Geldbörse and Handy are joined by und. The useful present-tense chain is ich bin, du bist, er/sie/es ist, wir/sie/Sie sind. Example: Die Tasche und das Buch sind hier. — “The bag and the book are here.” beide means “both.” It specifies that the two coordinated items are each included. Here it is associated with the plural subject and reinforces that the wallet and the phone are both in the stated location. Example: Beide Bücher sind neu. — “Both books are new.” hier means “here,” referring to the relevant location in the immediate situation. As an adverb, it does not change for gender or number. Together, Deine Geldbörse und dein Handy forms the subject “your wallet and your phone.” Because this subject contains two items, sind supplies the plural form of “to be”; beide emphasizes that each of the two items is included; and hier gives their location. The whole utterance therefore means: “Your wallet and phone are both here.”

5. Wo ist mein kleines Notizbuch?

   Where is my small notebook?

   Wo ist

   where is

   mein

   my

   kleines

   small

   Notizbuch

   notebook

   More detail

   Wo ist combines wo (“where”) with ist, the third-person singular present form of sein (“to be”). The question asks for the location of the thing named afterward. Compare Wo ist ...? (“Where is ...?”) with Wo sind ...? (“Where are ...?”) when asking about more than one thing. mein means “my” here and is the possessive determiner belonging to the speaker. Its form agrees with the noun phrase it introduces, not with the owner: mein is the neuter nominative form used with das Notizbuch in this sentence. Compare mein Notizbuch (“my notebook”) with meine Tasche (“my bag”), where the feminine form is meine. kleines is the adjective klein (“small”) with the ending -es. It describes Notizbuch. In mein kleines Notizbuch, the noun is neuter and singular, and the adjective takes -es after the possessive determiner: ein kleines Buch, mein kleines Buch. The base form is klein; a useful comparison is kleiner (“smaller”). Example: Das ist ein kleines Buch. — “That is a small book.” Notizbuch means “notebook.” It is a neuter compound noun: das Notizbuch; its plural is die Notizbücher. The noun is the subject of ist, so it is in the nominative case. Example: Mein Notizbuch ist hier. — “My notebook is here.” Together, Wo ist asks for a location, and mein kleines Notizbuch identifies the item whose location is being asked about. The complete utterance therefore means “Where is my small notebook?”

6. Es ist unter deiner Jacke.

   It is under your jacket.

   Es ist

   It is

   unter

   under

   deiner

   your

   Jacke

   jacket

   More detail

   Es ist means “it is” here. Es is the third-person singular neuter subject pronoun, and ist is the present-tense third-person singular form of sein (“to be”): sein → ist. The pronoun’s grammatical form is clear, while the exact object it refers to is not stated inside this sentence. unter means “under.” For a stationary location, as here, it normally introduces the dative: unter + dative. With movement to a position under something, the accusative can be used instead. Example: Das Buch liegt unter dem Tisch. — “The book is under the table.” deiner means “your” in the form required here. It is the dative feminine singular form of the possessive determiner dein (“your,” singular informal addressee): dein → deiner in this context. The form reflects Jacke being feminine singular and the dative required by the stationary-location use of unter. Possessive determiners agree with the noun’s grammatical features and take the case required by the phrase. Jacke means “jacket.” It is a feminine noun, so it is capitalized in German; its base form is die Jacke. In this sentence, the noun is singular and appears without its usual definite article because the possessive determiner occupies that determiner position. Example: Meine Jacke ist neu. — “My jacket is new.” Together, Es ist supplies the subject and the verb “is,” while unter deiner Jacke gives the stationary location: “under your jacket.” The complete utterance is therefore “It is under your jacket.”

7. Dann habe ich alles.

   Then I have everything.

   Dann

   Then

   habe ich

   I have

   alles

   everything

   More detail

   Dann means “then” here, marking the time or sequence of the statement. It commonly appears at the beginning of a German main clause. When another element such as Dann occupies the first position, the finite verb still comes second: Dann habe ich ... = “Then I have ...”. habe ich contains habe, the first-person singular present form of haben (“to have”), followed by ich (“I”). The basic pattern is ich habe = “I have”; after an element placed first, German uses verb–subject order: Dann habe ich .... Other present forms include du hast (“you have”) and er/sie hat (“he/she has”). alles means “everything” in this sentence. It is an indefinite pronoun referring generally to the whole relevant set, rather than naming individual items. Example: Ich sehe alles. — “I see everything.” Together, Dann + habe ich + alles forms Dann habe ich alles. The sentence means “Then I have everything”: at that point in the sequence, the speaker possesses or has the complete relevant set. The pattern is reusable with another object, for example Dann habe ich die Tasche. — “Then I have the bag.”

8. Du kannst die Tasche jetzt schließen.

   You can close the bag now.

   Du kannst

   you can

   Tasche

   bag

   jetzt

   now

   schließen

   close

   More detail

   Du kannst means “you can” here. du is the informal second-person singular subject (“you”). kannst is the second-person singular present form of können (“to be able to; can”): ich kann, du kannst, er/sie/es kann. With a modal verb such as können, the other verb normally stays in the infinitive and appears at the end of the clause. Tasche is the noun “bag.” Its base form is Tasche; the noun is feminine, so the definite article is die in this sentence: die Tasche. Example: Die Tasche ist schwer. — “The bag is heavy.” jetzt means “now” and places the action at the current time. Example: Ich komme jetzt. — “I am coming now.” schließen is the infinitive “to close.” The infinitive is used here because it follows the modal verb kannst. Its stem includes schließ-, with ie; do not confuse it with schießen (“to shoot”), which has a different meaning. Example: Bitte schließen Sie die Tür. — “Please close the door.” Together, Du kannst gives the ability or permission expressed by “you can,” die Tasche is the object being closed, jetzt specifies the time, and schließen is the infinitive placed at the end after the modal verb. The complete utterance therefore means: “You can close the bag now.”