Breakdown of Danach braten wir das Ei mit Öl in der Pfanne.
in
in
wir
we
das Ei
the egg
mit
with
danach
after that
braten
to fry
das Öl
the oil
die Pfanne
the pan
Questions & Answers about Danach braten wir das Ei mit Öl in der Pfanne.
Why does the verb "braten" come before the subject "wir"?
In German, the conjugated verb must always be in the second position of a main clause. Because we started this sentence with the sequential adverb Danach (Position 1), the verb braten takes Position 2, pushing the subject wir right after it into Position 3.
Could I use "dann" instead of "danach" here?
Yes, you could say Dann braten wir.... Both are used to sequence events. Danach literally means "after that" and emphasizes that one specific action has finished before this next one starts, while dann is a more general "then". In recipes or instructions, they are almost entirely interchangeable.
Why is it "in der Pfanne" if the German word for pan is feminine ("die Pfanne")?
The word in is a two-way preposition. Here, it describes a static location (answering "where is the egg frying?"), so it requires the dative case. In the dative case, the feminine article die changes to der.
Why is there no article after "mit"? Shouldn't it be "mit dem Öl"?
You only need dem if you are referring to a specific oil you already mentioned. Because oil is an uncountable substance, you can just use it without an article when speaking generally, exactly like saying "with oil" in English.
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