Word
Lernt zuerst und spielt dann!
Meaning
Learn first and then play!
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Lernt zuerst und spielt dann!
Why do the verbs end in -t (lernt, spielt) if this is a command?
These are commands given to a group of people informally (the ihr form, meaning "you all"). To make the informal plural command, you just take the regular present tense ihr conjugation (ihr lernt, ihr spielt) and drop the word ihr.
Why isn't there a pronoun like ihr or Sie in this sentence?
For the informal plural command (telling a group of friends or children what to do), the pronoun ihr is completely dropped. This is different from the formal command, where you must keep the pronoun (for example, Lernen Sie zuerst!).
Why use zuerst instead of erste for "first"?
zuerst is an adverb meaning "firstly" or "first of all", which we use to describe the order of actions. erste is an adjective used to describe nouns (like "the first day"). Since we are talking about when to do the action (learning), we use zuerst.
Why is dann at the end instead of saying und dann spielt?
In commands, the verb must come in the very first position of its clause. The word und just glues the two commands together, so the second command must still start directly with its verb (spielt), which forces the adverb dann ("then") to come after it.