Der Wein war lecker und ich habe viel Trinkgeld gegeben.
The wine was delicious and I gave a big tip.
Breakdown of Der Wein war lecker und ich habe viel Trinkgeld gegeben.
ich
I
sein
to be
und
and
haben
to have
viel
much / a lot
geben
to give
der Wein
the wine
lecker
delicious
das Trinkgeld
the tip
Questions & Answers about Der Wein war lecker und ich habe viel Trinkgeld gegeben.
How is the past participle gegeben formed in this sentence?
It comes from the verb geben (to give). Because geben is an irregular (or "strong") verb, its past participle ends in -en instead of the regular -t. It adds the standard ge- at the beginning, making it gegeben.
The translation says "a big tip", but doesn't viel mean "much"?
Yes! Literally, the German sentence says "I have given much tip". In German, Trinkgeld is usually treated as an uncountable amount, like "money". So you use viel (much or a lot of) rather than the German word for "big" (groß).
Why does the first half use war (was) instead of the Perfekt tense like the second half?
war is the simple past tense of sein (to be). Even though spoken German usually prefers the Perfekt tense for talking about the past, the verbs sein (to be) and haben (to have) are common exceptions. It is much more natural and easier to say war than the Perfekt version (ist ... gewesen).
Does the word und change the word order in the second half of the sentence?
No. und (and) is a connecting word that takes "position zero" in a sentence. This means it doesn't count towards the word order. In the clause ich habe viel Trinkgeld gegeben, the subject ich takes position 1, and the conjugated verb habe stays exactly where it belongs in position 2.
Learn Der Wein war lecker und ich habe viel Trinkgeld gegeben and more in German
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free