Word
Im April regnet es manchmal.
Meaning
In April it sometimes rains.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Im April regnet es manchmal.
es
it
regnen
to rain
manchmal
sometimes
im
in the (used with months) / in the (contraction of in + dem)
Questions & Answers about Im April regnet es manchmal.
Why is it im April and not just in April like in English?
In German, months take a definite article (the word for "the"). To say "in a month", you use the preposition in followed by the dative word dem. These two words naturally squish together into the contraction im. So you are literally saying "in the April". You will use im for all months of the year!
Why is the word order regnet es instead of es regnet?
This happens because of the strict German "verb-second" rule. The verb (regnet) must be the second block of information in the sentence. Because you started with the time phrase Im April (position 1), the verb comes next (position 2). This pushes the subject es right after the verb.
Could I rearrange this sentence to start with Es?
Absolutely! You can say Es regnet manchmal im April. Notice that if you start with the subject Es (position 1), the verb regnet is still securely in position 2. Starting with Im April instead just puts a little more emphasis on the time of year.