Breakdown of Die Situation wurde plötzlich gefährlich.
plötzlich
suddenly
werden
to become / to get (change of state)
gefährlich
dangerous
die Situation
the situation
Questions & Answers about Die Situation wurde plötzlich gefährlich.
Why does wurde mean "became" here instead of "was"?
The verb werden means "to become" when used as a main verb. Wurde is its simple past tense (Präteritum) form for "he/she/it". So die Situation wurde means "the situation became". Be careful not to confuse it with war, which is the past tense of sein and means "was".
Why doesn't gefährlich have an ending here, like gefährliche?
Adjectives in German only get endings when they are placed directly in front of a noun (like eine gefährliche Situation). Because gefährlich comes after the verb here to describe the subject, it stays in its basic, uninflected form.
Is gefährlich related to the noun Gefahr?
Yes! Adding the suffix -lich to the noun Gefahr (danger) creates the adjective gefährlich (dangerous). Notice that the a changes to an umlaut (ä) during this process, which happens often when building words in German.
Could I put plötzlich at the end of the sentence?
It is much better where it is. Adverbs like plötzlich (suddenly) usually come right after the conjugated verb (wurde) and before the adjective (gefährlich) to sound natural to a German speaker.
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