Lesson 12.4: Query re "ein Danke"

There is a sentence “Und das ohne je ein Danke zu hören.” which is translated as “Without ever getting thanked for it”.

A literal translation looks like “And that without ever hearing a thanks”  (or “a thank you”).

I just wondered, as I thought “a thank you” or “thanks” as a noun was “Der Dank”. So my question is why isn't it “einen Dank” as it appears to be the object of “zu hören”?

Is “Danke” a neuter noun in this context?

Guten Tag Peter--252,

thank you for your question! You can think of it as the speaker literally wanting to hear a “thank you” from the other person whereas “der Dank” is more formal and could be expressed in many different ways. 

A similar example would be:

“Und das ohne je ein Bitte zu hören.” - “And that without ever hearing a please.”

Viele Grüße,

Julia

Guten Tag Julia!

I think I understand now. I suppose it could have been written:

Und das ohne je ein „Danke” zu hören, 

i.e. making it explicit that he'd like to hear her say the actual word. 

(Hope I've got the quote marks correct!)

Viele Grüße,

Peter

Hallo Peter--252!

Yes, you can think of it that way, although you usually wouldn't use quotation marks here. 

Grüße,

Julia