Breakdown of Es gab keinen Fernseher, deswegen erzählte die Oma ein Märchen.
ein
a, an (eine)
kein
no, not any
erzählen
to tell
die Oma
the grandma
es gibt
there is / there are
der Fernseher
the TV / the television
deswegen
therefore / because of that
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
das Märchen
the fairy tale
Questions & Answers about Es gab keinen Fernseher, deswegen erzählte die Oma ein Märchen.
How do we form the simple past tense for erzählte?
erzählen (to tell) is a regular (or "weak") verb. To form the Präteritum (simple past), you take the verb stem (erzähl-) and add -te. Since the subject is die Oma (3rd-person singular), it doesn't need an extra personal ending, leaving us with erzählte.
Why does the verb erzählte come right after deswegen?
deswegen (therefore/so) is an adverb, which means it takes up the first position in its clause. Because German requires the conjugated verb to be in the second position, erzählte comes immediately after it, pushing the subject (die Oma) to the third position.
Why does the sentence use es gab instead of the spoken past tense (Perfekt)?
While German normally uses the Perfekt for spoken past, a handful of very common expressions are almost always used in the Präteritum (simple past) instead, even in conversation. es gibt (there is/are) is one of these exceptions. You will hear es gab much more often than es hat gegeben in daily life!
Why is it keinen Fernseher rather than kein Fernseher?
The expression es gibt (and its past form es gab) always requires the accusative case for the noun that exists. Because TV is a masculine noun (der Fernseher), the negative article takes the masculine accusative ending -en, making it keinen.
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