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Translate the following sentence into German: "I have been playing the piano for five years."

Answer: "Ich spiele seit fünf Jahren das Klavier". A common mistake made by students of German would be to say: "Ich habe seit fünf Jahren das Klavier gespielt". This is because the conce...
EB
Answered by Edward B. German tutor
2864 Views

What are the German cases, and when do I use them?

There are four cases in the German language: nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive. There are different rules on when to use each specific case.Nominative: The nominative case is used for the subject ...
JS
Answered by Jennifer S. German tutor
2261 Views

How does the position of the verb change in subordinate clauses compared to substantive clauses?

In normal substantive clauses the verb is placed in the second position right after the noun. For example, 'Ich mache Sport'. In subordinate clauses, however, the verb is placed in the last position in the c...
SE
1774 Views

When should I use the nominative case?

The nominative case is used for the subject of the verb, i.e. the noun doing the action. Consider this example: my brother has a dog. In this simple sentence, my brother is the subject of the verb as he owns...
EH
Answered by Emily H. German tutor
1863 Views

How do cases work?

In German there are three main cases - subject, object and dative. The subject is the thing which is doing something, for example in 'the girl throws the ball', the girl is the subject, because she is doing ...
TS
Answered by Thomas S. German tutor
1851 Views