Questions & Answers about Nur wenige sind mitgekommen.
Why does wenige stand alone here without a noun?
wenige means "few" or "a few". In this sentence, it acts as an indefinite pronoun, meaning it completely replaces the noun (like "people" or "friends"). Because it's a pronoun, Nur wenige translates perfectly to "Only a few."
What is the difference between wenig and wenige?
wenig is used for singular, uncountable things (like time or money), meaning "little". wenige is the plural form used for countable things (like people or days), meaning "few". Since it refers to countable people coming along, we use the plural wenige.
Why does this sentence use sind instead of haben for the past tense?
The verb mitkommen (to come along) involves a change of location. In German, verbs that express movement from one place to another use sein (here, sind to match the plural wenige) as their helping verb in the past tense, rather than haben.
Why is the ge in the middle of mitgekommen?
mitkommen is a separable verb, made of the prefix mit- and the verb kommen. When forming the past participle of a separable verb, the -ge- is always sandwiched right between the prefix and the verb stem, resulting in mitgekommen.
Learn Nur wenige sind mitgekommen 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