Kumar001 wrote:Dear Friends,
Good afternoon. Please bear with me for the length of this email, as I wish to write what I understood and seek your valuable advise(s).
I have come across the following text (as attached Wegschreibung.jpg) in the book titled "Sabine Dinsel, Susanne Geiger - Großes Übungsbuch Deutsch_ Grammatik ( 2009, Hueber)" - Page 9. I am not sure if I understood the content (Prepositions, adjective endings correctly).So I am writing what I understood / and what is not understood, seek your kind support to correct me where I have gone wrong. Thanks in advance for your valuable support and would be glad to get in touch with someone living close to Karlsruhe, Germany.
1) Formen ---- um : Why is it separable / Trennbare verb ?
The verb
umformen is separable. In this sentence, it is used in the imperative mood, which is one of the tenses/moods requiring separable prefixes to be 'detached' from the stem:
umformen (infinitive)
forme … um (imperative singular/plain)
formen Sie … um (imperative plural/polite)
>
Formen Sie den Text in die du-Form um.Kumar001 wrote:2) ankommen : Why is it unseparable / Untrennbare verb ?
Even though
ankommen is a separable verb, it is not separated here because of the sentence structure which requires the verb to be in final position. For comparison:
Sie kommen an. (main clause >
an is separated)
Wenn Sie ankommen, …
= …, wenn Sie ankommen. (subclause requiring the verb to be in final position, where the prefix
an is attached to the verb)
Kumar001 wrote:3) den Schildern : Is "den" because of Akkusativ, if so why Schildern, as das/der Schild ; die Schilder/die Schilde. […]. Is "den" because of Dativ, plural, if so how do I identify this is a case of Dativ?
You're right, if it was the accusative case, the correct form would be identical with the nominative plural:
die Schilder= nominative plural
= accusative plural
However, the verb
folgen requires the dative case, so the case used in this sentence is not the accusative but the dative plural:
den Schildern.
The article
der has the same form in the accusative singular and the dative plural:
den = accusative singular, masculine
= dative plural, all genders
Kumar001 wrote:4) Am Automaten : Why "Am" ? der Automat, die Automaten. Is "Am" because of Dativ, as the Automat is already positioned/existing in that location/place ? In that case "Automaten" being plural, is "Am" still right?
This might be confusing because
Automat is one of those nouns with the 'n-declension' pattern:
Automat = nominative singular
Automaten = all other cases
In this sentence, the dative singular is used, which is why the
-en suffix is needed.
Kumar001 wrote:5) kaufen: Why only kaufen and no kaufen --- ein or einkaufen ?
Even though
einkaufen / kaufen … ein would be grammatically correct as well,
kaufen is more natural here.
einkaufen ≈ to do some shopping, to shop, …
kaufen ≈ to buy (something specific)
Kumar001 wrote:6) in die U-Bahn Richtung Messe: Is "in" here an Akkusative preposition ? Because, Richtung is a direction and there is an action / movement involved ?
Yes, that's right.
Kumar001 wrote:7) steigen Sie wieder aus: Why is it separable / Trennbare verb ? How do I identify when to separate and when not in general?
Yes, it is a separable verb. Here it appears in the imperative, so the prefix is separated from the stem:
aussteigen (infinitive)
Steigen Sie aus! (imperative)Similarly:
einsteigen (infinitive)
Steigen Sie ein! (imperative)
umsteigen (infinitive)
Steigen Sie um! (imperative)Kumar001 wrote:8) Am Ausgang: der Ausgang, so here "an" is a Dativ preposition ? Ausgang already being positioned takes Dativ form and therefore an + dem = am ?
Yes, exactly.
Kumar001 wrote:9) in die Goethestraße: "in" is here a Akkusativ preposition ? Straße involving movement and therefore Akkusativ ?
Yes, that's correct.
Kumar001 wrote:10) auf der rechten Seite: "auf" here is a Dativ preposition (as the right side is already existing / positioned) and therefore die Straße --> der Straße. "rechten with ending en" because adjective declension corresponds to definite article i.e. "der" / feminine (strasse) / Dativ ?
In this case,
der Straße is in the genitive, corresponding to the English 'of the street'.
auf der rechten Seite (dative) …
… der Straße (genitive)Kumar001 wrote:11) Am besten setzen Sie sich gleich ins Cafe: why "ins" and not "im", das Cafe, but setzen Sie sich meaning already positioned, so is it not a Dativ case?
Perhaps it makes sense if you compare these two sentences:
Wo sitzen sie?
– Sie sitzen im Café.
(location)
Wohin setzen sie sich?
– Sie setzen sich ins Café.(direction)
Kumar001 wrote:Why " Am besten" ?
It's just a phrase often used in friendly suggestions, meaning something like 'it would be best (/it would be a good idea) if you did it'. I'm not sure if there is an equivalent in English.