Breakdown of Hängt ihr den Vorhang vor das Fenster?
ihr
you (informal plural)
vor
in front of
das Fenster
the window
hängen
to hang
der Vorhang
the curtain
Questions & Answers about Hängt ihr den Vorhang vor das Fenster?
Why do we use the accusative das Fenster after vor instead of the dative?
vor is a two-way preposition. When an action involves movement towards a destination (answering the question Wohin? or Where to?), two-way prepositions take the accusative case. Since you are moving the curtain into its new place, we use das Fenster. If the curtain were already hanging there, we would use the dative (vor dem Fenster).
I learned that placement verbs usually come in pairs (like legen and liegen). Is there another verb for the state of hanging?
No, hängen is a special verb that does double duty! You use it for the action of hanging something up (which uses the accusative for the destination, like in this sentence), and you also use the exact same verb for the state of something already hanging there (which uses the dative for the location).
Why is it den Vorhang instead of der Vorhang?
The curtain is the direct object of the sentence, meaning it is the thing being acted upon. Since Vorhang is a masculine noun, der changes to den in the accusative case. We actually have two accusative parts in this sentence: the direct object (den Vorhang) and the destination (das Fenster).
Can I shorten vor das in spoken German?
Yes! Just like in das can become ins, you can combine vor das into vors. You will often hear German speakers say vors Fenster in everyday, casual conversation.
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