Breakdown of Wir nehmen am Tisch Platz.
wir
we
der Tisch
the table
Platz nehmen
to take a seat, to sit down (polite)
Questions & Answers about Wir nehmen am Tisch Platz.
This lesson is about motion and the accusative case. Why is it am Tisch (dative) here instead of an den Tisch (accusative)?
That is the big trick with this sentence! While verbs like setzen (to sit down) take the accusative because you are moving toward a destination, Platz nehmen (to take a seat) focuses on where the seat is located. You are taking a seat that is already at the table. Because it describes a fixed location (answering where?), we use the dative am (which is short for an + dem).
Why is Platz at the very end of the sentence?
The phrase Platz nehmen is a fixed expression. In German main clauses, the conjugated verb (nehmen) takes the second position, and the noun part of the fixed phrase (Platz) gets pushed to the very end. It wraps around the sentence just like a separable prefix verb.
Can I say Wir setzen uns am Tisch instead to mean the same thing?
Not quite! If you use the motion verb sich setzen (to sit down), you must use the accusative because you are changing location: Wir setzen uns an den Tisch. If you want to use the dative location am Tisch, you must use a phrase like Wir nehmen am Tisch Platz or the static verb sitzen (to be sitting): Wir sitzen am Tisch.
Is Platz capitalized because it is a noun, even though it acts like part of the verb here?
Exactly. Even though it is part of the fixed verb phrase Platz nehmen, der Platz (space/seat/place) is still a noun. In German, all nouns are always capitalized, regardless of how they are used in the sentence.
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