Questions & Answers about Ich frühstücke zweimal.
Why is there no word for "have" in this sentence?
In English, we say "have breakfast", which is a verb plus a noun. In German, frühstücken is a single verb that means "to eat breakfast". Since ich means "I", you just use the verb form frühstücke to say "I have breakfast".
How exactly does the word zweimal work?
It is a compound word made of the number zwei (two) and mal (times). You can create other adverbs of frequency the same way, for example einmal (once) or dreimal (three times).
Why does zweimal come after the verb? Could I say "Ich zweimal frühstücke"?
No, you cannot say that. In German statements, the conjugated verb must always take the second position. Since Ich is in the first position, the verb frühstücke takes the second spot, pushing the frequency adverb zweimal after it.
What if I want to emphasize that I eat breakfast TWICE? Can I put zweimal first?
Yes! You can start the sentence with the adverb for emphasis: Zweimal frühstücke ich. Notice that the verb frühstücke still stays in the strict second position, so the subject ich just moves to the other side of the verb.
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