"Ich wünsche dir einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr" is a nice wish for New Year. But I'm confused - why it's not "ins neuen Jahr"? My reasoning is: "Ich" is Subjekt, "einen guten Rutsch" is Akkusativobjekt, "ins neue Jahr" must be Dativobjekt. Adjective stands before noun and therefore must be declined, and we have definite article in front (in + das = ins) so adjective ending must be -en (like in "Ich helfe einem kleinen Kind"). So, why is "ins neue Jahr" and not "ins neuen Jahr"?
asked Oct 25, 2020 at 22:20
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2The construction you're thinking of would be “Guten Rutsch im neuen Jahr”, which would be gramatically correct but missing the point of the phrase.– leftaroundaboutOct 25, 2020 at 23:42
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1The problem with the reasoning is that there can be more than one noun of any case in a sentence. I would call das neue Jahr a "prepositional object" because it's case is governed by a preposition, not the verb. Even without prepositions this reasoning would not work: Ich bin der Arzt. (Two nouns in nominative) Ich treffe dich nächstes Jahr. (Two nouns in accusitive)– RDBuryOct 26, 2020 at 2:00
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1 Answer
You have to distinguish (at least) two cases with "in". If you're talking about an action inside something, the location of the action, you need the dative:
Er rutscht in der Küche aus.
He slips in the kitchen (inside the kitchen).
If you're talking about an action into something, the direction of the action, you need the accusative:
Er rutscht in die Küche hinein.
He slips / slides into the kitchen.
In your example sentence, you're wishing "a good slide into the new year". Therefore, you need the accusative:
Ich wünsche Dir einen guten Rutsch in das neue Jahr hinein.
Ich wünsche Dir einen guten Rutsch in das neue Jahr.
Ich wünsche Dir einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr.
answered Oct 25, 2020 at 23:04
