Word
Das Projekt fängt im April oder Mai an.
Meaning
The project starts in April or May.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Das Projekt fängt im April oder Mai an.
anfangen
to start
oder
or
das Projekt
the project
im
in the (used with months) / in the (contraction of in + dem)
Questions & Answers about Das Projekt fängt im April oder Mai an.
Why do we use im before the months instead of just in?
In German, months always take the preposition in plus the definite article (the word for "the"). Since all months are masculine (like der April), and in requires the dative case for points in time, in and dem combine into the short word im. You will always use im to say something happens "in" a certain month.
Do I need to repeat im and say im April oder im Mai?
You can, but you do not have to! Just like in English ("in April or May"), German allows you to drop the second im when you connect two months with oder (or) or und (and). Saying im April oder Mai is standard and sounds very natural.
Why is the word an all the way at the end of the sentence?
That is because the verb here is anfangen (to begin or start), which is a separable verb. In a normal main clause, the prefix (an) splits off from the main verb (fängt) and jumps to the very end of the sentence.
Why is it fängt with an umlaut (ä) instead of fangt?