Questions & Answers about Der Zug kommt spät an.
Why is an at the very end of the sentence?
This happens because ankommen (to arrive) is a separable verb. In a standard German sentence, the core verb (kommt) takes the second position, and its prefix (an) gets sent to the very end.
If I want to say the train often arrives late, where do I put the frequency adverb oft?
You would say: Der Zug kommt oft spät an. Adverbs of frequency like oft or immer usually go right after the conjugated verb (kommt). Notice that the separated prefix an must still stay at the absolute end of the sentence!
What happens to the word order if I start the sentence with manchmal (sometimes)?
German has a strict rule: the verb must be the second idea in the sentence. If you start with Manchmal, the verb kommt stays in second place, and the subject is pushed after it: Manchmal kommt der Zug spät an.
Is spät an adverb here? Does it need an ending?
Yes, it is acting as an adverb here because it describes how or when the train is arriving. Because it is an adverb and not an adjective sitting directly in front of a noun, it never takes any special endings. It just stays as spät.
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