Breakdown of Zuerst musst du die alte App löschen und dann die neue App herunterladen.
du
you (informal singular)
und
and
alt
old
neu
new
müssen
to have to, must
zuerst
first
dann
then
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
die App
the app
herunterladen
to download
löschen
to delete
Questions & Answers about Zuerst musst du die alte App löschen und dann die neue App herunterladen.
Why is it Zuerst musst du instead of Zuerst du musst?
German strictly follows the verb-second rule in standard statements. Since the sequence word Zuerst (First) takes up the first slot, the conjugated verb musst must be in the second slot. This pushes the subject du into the third position.
Why do both alte and neue end in -e?
They are adjectives describing die App, which is a feminine noun. Because they are the direct objects of the sentence (the things being deleted and downloaded), they are in the accusative case. After the feminine definite article die in the accusative, adjectives just take an -e ending.
Why doesn't the second half of the sentence repeat musst du?
The two actions are connected by und (and). Because the subject (du) and the helping verb (musst) are exactly the same for both tasks, you can just drop them the second time to sound more natural. The full thought is: ... und dann musst du die neue App herunterladen.
Herunterladen (to download) is a separable verb. Why isn't the prefix separated here?
Because of the modal verb musst. A modal verb takes the second position and pushes the main action verb to the very end of the sentence in its full, unchanged dictionary form (the infinitive). When a separable verb is in the infinitive at the end like this, its prefix stays firmly attached!
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