Breakdown of Müssen wir den Anfang vom Spiel verschieben?
wir
we
müssen
to have to, must
vom
from the (von + dem) / of the (belonging to) / by the (agent in a passive clause)
das Spiel
the game/match
verschieben
to postpone
der Anfang
the beginning
Questions & Answers about Müssen wir den Anfang vom Spiel verschieben?
Why is verschieben at the very end of the sentence?
Because of the modal verb Müssen (must / have to). In German, a modal verb takes the normal verb position and pushes the main action verb (verschieben) all the way to the end of the sentence in its infinitive (dictionary) form.
Why is it den Anfang instead of der Anfang?
Anfang is a masculine noun (der Anfang). In this sentence, it is the direct object because it is the thing being postponed. Therefore, it changes to the accusative case, and der becomes den.
What does vom stand for here?
vom is a shortened combination of the preposition von (of / from) and the article dem (the). The preposition von always forces the following noun into the dative case. Since Spiel is a neuter noun (das Spiel), its article changes to dem in the dative case.
Could I use the genitive case here to say "the beginning of the game"?
Yes, you could say den Anfang des Spiels. However, using von + dative (like vom Spiel) is an extremely common alternative to the genitive case in everyday spoken German to show that something belongs to something else.
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