Breakdown of Wir müssen uns beeilen, es ist spät.
sein
to be
es
it
wir
we
uns
us
müssen
to have to, must
spät
late
sich beeilen
to hurry
Questions & Answers about Wir müssen uns beeilen, es ist spät.
Why do we need the word uns in this sentence? Can we just say Wir müssen beeilen?
In English, you simply hurry, but in German, the verb is sich beeilen, which is a reflexive verb. This means the action reflects back on the subject, as if you are hurrying yourselves. Because the subject is wir (we), you must use the matching reflexive pronoun uns.
Is uns in the accusative or dative case here?
It is in the accusative case. The word uns actually looks exactly the same in both the dative and accusative forms! However, sich beeilen requires an accusative reflexive pronoun. A great rule of thumb at this level is that if a reflexive verb does not have another direct object (like a specific thing you are washing or buying), the reflexive pronoun takes the accusative case.
Why does beeilen come after uns and at the very end of the first clause?
This happens because of the modal verb müssen. In German, a conjugated modal verb takes the normal second position in the sentence, but it pushes the main action verb (beeilen) all the way to the end in its basic dictionary form. The reflexive pronoun uns stays right after the modal verb.
How would the first part of this sentence change if I wanted to say I have to hurry?
You would need to change the subject, the conjugated modal verb, and the reflexive pronoun so that they all match. The clause would become: Ich muss mich beeilen. Notice how uns changes to the accusative reflexive pronoun mich to match the subject ich.
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