The first one means to help the poor birds, with poor as an adjective. The second means to help the poor as a noun to fuck. vögeln as a verb is slang for fucking.
Yeah, ok. I suppose that helps a bit. This kind of ambiguity exists in pretty much all languages, but good to know there’s some justification for that rule.
There is some funny sentences where it matters.
For instance:
Den armen Vögeln helfen.
Den Armen vögeln helfen.
The first one means to help the poor birds, with poor as an adjective. The second means to help the poor as a noun to fuck. vögeln as a verb is slang for fucking.
Yeah, ok. I suppose that helps a bit. This kind of ambiguity exists in pretty much all languages, but good to know there’s some justification for that rule.