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Vielleicht ist dieses Ferienparadies eine der letzten Idyllen in Deutschland: herrliche Landschaft, klares Wasser, saubere Luft.

Could someone explain the usage of "eine" here? What type of grammatical object is it? and how do we come to the ending?

I do know that it translates to "one of the"

tryst with freedom
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3 Answers3

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In your example, "eine" is an indefinite pronoun. The grammatical construction is <indefinite pronoun> + <definite article + [adjective, often superlative +] noun in genitive plural> and the pronoun "ein" takes the gender for singular declination from the genitive noun. You can build the same construction with other indefinite pronouns but (most of?) those are strictly plural. As is often the case, you can also use a cardinal number instead of the indefinite pronoun.

Examples of this construction are:

  • Olaf Scholz ist einer der bekanntesten Politiker Deutschlands.
  • Am Rhein liegen einige der schönsten Burgen Deutschlands.
  • Manche der zerstörten Städte wurden aufgegeben.
  • Viele der schmackhaftesten Pilze lassen sich nicht züchten.
  • Die Brüder Albrecht sind zwei der reichsten Unternehmer in der Lebensmittelbranche.
  • Yeah, thanks to the moderator @guidot for removing the comments I left here. Such a nice forum to be in, having my contributions be deleted without being notified. – EagleFliesBanana Aug 16 '23 at 07:55
  • @OranMatheus I find that annoying too. I would still classify "ein" as an indefinite pronoun in this construction but that doesn't really matter as a cardinal number would have the same grammatical role. It's not worth argueing semantics. –  Aug 16 '23 at 07:58
  • See, we can just discuss it this way instead of deleting comments behind the backs of the users. It makes sense to make a distinction of cardinal numbers, it is not purely semantic. But this deserves its own question on this forum. – EagleFliesBanana Aug 16 '23 at 08:00
  • ""ein" takes the gender for singular declination from the genitive noun" but what case tho? – tryst with freedom Aug 22 '23 at 13:04
  • Just replace the whole phrase with the noun. The case the noun would take is taken by the pronoun. E.g., "Olaf Scholz is ein Politiker." --> Gleichsetzungsnominativ --> masculine nominative of "ein" needs to be used. –  Aug 22 '23 at 13:18
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In English you call this indefinite article. In German "unbestimmter Artikel".

It is very similar to "a" and "an" in English. You use it when something is not defined. Ein Baum an der Straße = A tree near the road --> A random tree. Not specified.

In contrast you have normal articles like "die", "der" und "das". You use them when it is rather clear what you talk about. Der Baum unter dem wir uns geküsst haben = The tree where we have kissed. In this case you know that they kissed only under one tree.

In contrast: Ein Baum unter dem wir uns geküsst haben = A tree where we kissed.

About the sentence: First you say that it is one of the last idyls and then the ":" signals that a list beginns. And the list contains the positive aspects of the place.

Merlin Nestler
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It is a Kardinalzahl. Not an indefinite pronoun.

Your whole construction shows partitive genitiv, which has a number as its determiner/quantifier.

You could use other cardinal numbers: Zwei der letzten Idyllen, drei der letzten Idyllen, vierzig der letzten Idyllen - you get it.

Dudenband 4 (2009) Nr. 446 "Zu den Verwendungsweisen von ein"

Ein as a cardinal number shares its inflection with its usage as an article or article-like word. See Duden4(2009) Nr. 448.

EagleFliesBanana
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    With an accessible reference added I may retract my downvote. Currently I consider it as a point of view, and the third paragraph giving other cardinal numbers is somewhat debatable. – guidot Aug 16 '23 at 07:32
  • You could also have irgendeine der Idyllen. Cardinal or not is just a matter of semantics; in these constructions, there's always a pronoun. – David Vogt Aug 16 '23 at 07:39
  • Think whatever you want to think. I don't care. (Will you remove this comment too to feed your ego?) – EagleFliesBanana Aug 16 '23 at 07:55