Breakdown of Die Kerze brennt sanft, und ich entspanne mich.
ich
I
und
and
brennen
to burn
sich entspannen
to relax
Questions & Answers about Die Kerze brennt sanft, und ich entspanne mich.
Why is there a mich at the end of the sentence? Can't I just say ich entspanne?
In German, the verb for "to relax" is reflexive: sich entspannen. This means you have to include the reflexive pronoun, so you are literally saying "I relax myself" (ich entspanne mich). Leaving out the mich would sound incomplete to a German speaker.
Does the word und affect the word order in the second part of the sentence?
No, it doesn't. und (and) is a coordinating conjunction. Words like und, aber (but), and oder (or) act like a bridge between two independent clauses without messing up their internal structure. They occupy "position zero," meaning the subject (ich) takes the first position right after it, and the verb (entspanne) stays in its normal second position.
In English, we add "-ly" to make "gentle" into "gently". Why doesn't sanft have a special ending here?
In German, you can usually use the exact same word for an adjective (describing a noun) and an adverb (describing an action). Because sanft is describing how the candle burns, it is used as an adverb here and takes no ending. You only add endings when the word is placed directly in front of a noun, like in die sanfte Kerze (the gentle candle).