German
In German, a noun phrase can be put in the accusative to indicate that the subject of the sentence has the property described. For example:
| Neben | ihm | saß | der | dünnhaarige | Pianist, | den | Kopf | im | Nacken, | und | lauschte. |
| next to | him | sat | the | thin-haired | pianist | the-masc.acc.sg | head | in the | neck | and | listened |
| "The thin-haired pianist, his head hanging (lit. his head in his neck), sat next to him and listened." | |||||||||||
Read more about this topic: Accusative Absolute
Famous quotes containing the word german:
“Boys hide in lunging cubes
Crouching to explode,
Beyond the Atlantic skies,
With cheerful cries
Their barking tubes
Upon the German toad.”
—Allen Tate (18991979)
“Seventeen hundred and fifty-five.
Georgius Secundus was then alive,
Snuffy old drone from the German hive.”
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (18091894)
“The German intellect wants the French sprightliness, the fine practical understanding of the English, and the American adventure; but it has a certain probity, which never rests in a superficial performance, but asks steadily, To what end? A German public asks for a controlling sincerity.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)