Question 1

The lesson mentions that prepositions take specific cases. Why don't the days of the week show any case endings here?

Accepted Answer

von requires the dative case and bis requires the accusative. However, when using von ... bis with days of the week, months, or clock times, German simply drops the articles. Because there is no article (like dem or den) and no adjective, you don't see any case markers on Montag or Mittwoch.

Question 2

Would I ever use an article with von ... bis?

Accepted Answer

Yes, if you are talking about something that naturally takes an article, you must include it and apply the correct case. For example, "from the beginning to the end" is von dem Anfang bis zu dem Ende (often shortened to vom Anfang bis zum Ende). But for plain days of the week, you just use the bare nouns exactly like in English!

Question 3

How is von ... bis different from seit if I want to talk about my work schedule?

Accepted Answer

von ... bis gives a specific start and end point for a block of time ("from Monday to Wednesday"). If you instead say Wir arbeiten seit Montag, it means "We have been working since Monday" — it emphasizes that the action started in the past and is still ongoing right now, without stating an end time.

Question 4

Can Wir arbeiten also mean "We are working" in this context?

Accepted Answer

Yes! German doesn't have a separate continuous "-ing" tense. Depending on the context, Wir arbeiten von Montag bis Mittwoch can mean "We work from Monday to Wednesday" (as a regular weekly routine) or "We are working from Monday to Wednesday" (just for this specific week).

Wir arbeiten von Montag bis Mittwoch.

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