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Re: German question: Bundesgesundheitsamt

From:Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>
Date:Wednesday, February 13, 2002, 22:08
En réponse à Weiben Wang <weibenw@...>:

> I have a niggly question about German grammar which I > hope is appropriate to ask here. I was asked why you > add the S's in "Bundesgesundheitsamt." At first I > thought they were some kind of genitive, ie. der Bund, > des Bundes. But then Gesundheit is feminine, and > doesn't take an "s", ie. die Gesundheit, der > Gesundheit. So, where do the S's come from? I > presume there's a better explanation than simply, > "That's just how it works." Does anyone have a proper > explanation? TIA, >
In Dutch they have the same -s-, and the teacher told us that "it's just how it works" :)) . It seems to be a kind of genitive, but in Dutch it's sometimes absent even when the relation would be genitive. I find it quite a mystery myself... Christophe. http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.