Questions & Answers about Guten Abend! Wir essen jetzt.
Why does the English translation say "are eating" when there is no word for "are" in the German sentence?
German does not have a continuous tense like English. There is no direct equivalent to adding "-ing" to a verb. The single German verb essen covers both "eat" and "are eating". If you tried to translate "We are eating" word-for-word into Wir sind essen, it would sound completely wrong to a German speaker!
Why is it Guten Abend with an "-en" at the end, instead of just Gut Abend?
This greeting is actually a shortened version of "I wish you a good evening" (Ich wünsche Ihnen einen guten Abend). Because the evening is the receiving object of that hidden sentence, the describing word gut gets an -en ending. You will see this exact same pattern in Guten Morgen and Guten Tag.
Why is the word Abend capitalized?
In German, every single noun (a word for a person, place, thing, or concept) is capitalized, no matter where it appears in the sentence. Since Abend (evening) is a noun, it must start with a capital letter.
Could I change the word order and start the sentence with jetzt?