Der Nacht oder die Nacht?

Question

Rammstein sings "Sie kommen zu euch in der Nacht" in the "Mein Herz brennt" song, but to my knowledge "Nacht" is of female gender and it's supposed to be "die Nacht". So what am I missing?

And also http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Nacht says it's die Nacht.

How come this question is so highly upvoted? (Nix dagengen, aber wenn man jetzt so was fragen würde, wird in der Regel die Frage sofort entweder geschlossen oder heftig downgevoted). — c.p., Feb 15 '14 at 14:22
Since we close other questions as a duplicate of this one, we should reopen this one so that it accepts answers. — Carsten S, Jul 18 '21 at 14:46

score 20 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 16 '20 at 08:58

20

It's "die Nacht" in the standard nominative case, but Rammstein's line is using it in the dative case, which is "der" for feminine nouns.

Remember that there are 4 cases for nouns, and that the article and adjective declinations change depending on what case you are using.

See here for all the different cases for Nacht.

edited Jan 16 '20 at 08:58

Glorfindel

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answered Jan 19 '12 at 17:36

StrixVaria

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Die Torte, die Torte, es ist Zucker in der Torte! – user unknown Jan 19 '12 at 22:21
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The more interesting question would be: Why can you say des Nachts? – chirlu Jul 16 '13 at 18:59
Related: Why "des Nachts" – fifaltra Jan 18 '14 at 15:47
Des Nachts der Torte Versuchung ... – Jul 18 '21 at 18:53

score 5 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 14 '14 at 17:21

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As StrixVaria said, "in der Nacht" is dativ. Here are the general cases:

Singular                             Plural
Nominativ/Accusativ/Dativ/Genitiv    Nominativ/Accusativ/Dativ/Genitiv
der        den      dem     des       die        die     den     der (+n)
die        die      der     der       die        die     den     der
das        das      dem     des (+s)  die        die     den     der (+n)

So for example, school is female, "die Schule", but you must say: "in der Schule".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_nouns

edited Feb 14 '14 at 17:21

Community

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answered Jan 20 '12 at 09:46

Adamsan

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Thanx for details! – Denys S. Jan 20 '12 at 10:03

Der Nacht oder die Nacht?

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