Word
Danach trockne ich mich ab.
Meaning
After that, I dry myself.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Danach trockne ich mich ab.
Why do we use mich here instead of just saying "Danach trockne ich ab"?
In German, the verb abtrocknen (to dry off) requires a reflexive pronoun when you are drying your own body. The word mich means "myself" and is in the accusative case because you (the subject) are the direct object of your own action.
Could I use mich if I am drying something else, like the dishes?
No, you only use mich when the person doing the action and receiving the action are the exact same. If you are drying the dishes, you are acting on a different object, so you drop the reflexive pronoun and say Ich trockne die Teller ab (I dry the plates).
Why is ab placed at the very end of the sentence?
The full verb is abtrocknen (to dry off), which is a separable verb. In a standard German main clause, the main part of the verb (trockne) takes the second position, and the separable prefix (ab) gets pushed to the very end of the sentence.
Why is the word order trockne ich instead of ich trockne?
German strictly places the conjugated verb in the second position of a statement. Since this sentence starts with the time word Danach (After that) in position one, the verb trockne must come next in position two. The subject ich is then pushed to position three, right after the verb.