Questions & Answers about Der Zug kommt morgen an.
Why is the word an sitting by itself at the end of the sentence?
It is the prefix of the separable verb ankommen (to arrive). In a basic German sentence, the main part of the verb (kommt) takes the second position, and the separable prefix (an) gets kicked to the very end.
I learned that kommen means "to come". Why does this sentence mean "arrives"?
The full verb in this sentence is not just kommen, it is ankommen. German often adds prefixes to basic verbs to create new words with related meanings. When you see a lonely prefix at the end of a sentence like this, always pair it with the main verb to find the true dictionary meaning!
Could I say "Der Zug kommt an morgen" instead?
No, that would be incorrect. The rule for separable verbs is very strict: the separated prefix (in this case, an) must go to the absolute end of the sentence. Extra information, like the time word morgen (tomorrow), has to be placed before the prefix.
Doesn't morgen mean "morning"?
It depends on the capitalization! Written with a lowercase m, morgen is a time word meaning "tomorrow". If it is capitalized as a noun (der Morgen), it means "the morning".
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