Breakdown of Er trägt manchmal einen Mantel.
ein
a, an (eine)
er
he
tragen
to carry, to wear
der Mantel
the coat
manchmal
sometimes
Questions & Answers about Er trägt manchmal einen Mantel.
In English, we say "He sometimes wears" or "Sometimes he wears." Why is manchmal after the verb here?
In standard German statements, the conjugated verb must be in the second position. Here, Er is in position one, so the verb trägt takes position two. Adverbs of frequency like manchmal usually come right after the verb. You could also put manchmal at the very beginning, but the verb must stay second: Manchmal trägt er einen Mantel.
Why is the verb trägt spelled with an umlaut (ä)?
The base form of the verb is tragen. However, it is a stem-changing verb. When used with du (you) or er/sie/es (he/she/it), the a changes to an ä. So it becomes er trägt. For other pronouns, it keeps the regular vowel: ich trage, wir tragen.
Why is the word for "a" einen instead of just ein?
The word Mantel is a masculine noun (der Mantel). Because the coat is the direct object of the sentence (the thing being worn), it takes the accusative case. In the accusative case, masculine nouns change their "a/an" word from ein to einen.
I previously learned that tragen means "to carry". Does it mean "wear" here?
Yes! The verb tragen is used for both carrying an object and wearing clothing. You can easily tell the meaning from context. Since einen Mantel is an item of clothing, er trägt translates to "he wears" or "he is wearing" here.
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