Questions & Answers about Ich mache das Radio aus.
Why is aus at the very end of the sentence?
This sentence uses the separable verb ausmachen (to turn off). In a standard German main clause, the main part of the verb (mache) takes the second position, and the prefix (aus) gets pushed to the very end of the sentence.
Doesn't machen usually mean "to make" or "to do"?
Yes, on its own, machen means "to make" or "to do". But when you add the separable prefix aus to form ausmachen, the meaning completely changes to "to turn off" or "to switch off". Many German verbs change their meaning entirely when a prefix is added!
Why is it das Radio here? Is it the subject or the object?
das Radio is the direct object here, because it is the thing being turned off. It is in the accusative case. Since Radio is a neuter noun, the word for "the" remains das, which looks exactly the same as it does when it is the subject.
The translation says "I am turning off", but where is the word for "am" in the German sentence?
German does not have a separate "ing" tense like English does. The simple present tense Ich mache ... aus covers both "I turn off" and "I am turning off". You never need to translate the "am" or "is" when talking about things happening right now!
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