Breakdown of Meine Schwester weinte, deswegen kaufte ich ein Kuscheltier und tröstete sie.
ich
I
ein
a, an (eine)
sie
she
und
and
kaufen
to buy
mein
my
die Schwester
the sister
weinen
to cry
deswegen
therefore / because of that
das Kuscheltier
the stuffed animal
trösten
to comfort
Questions & Answers about Meine Schwester weinte, deswegen kaufte ich ein Kuscheltier und tröstete sie.
Why does tröstete have an extra -e- compared to weinte and kaufte?
The verb trösten (to comfort) has a stem that ends in a -t (tröst-). When forming the simple past for regular verbs, we usually add the ending -te (like in weinte and kaufte). To make it easier to pronounce, an extra -e- is inserted before the ending, making it tröstete.
The English translation says "was crying", but doesn't weinte just mean "cried"?
German does not have a continuous tense like the English "was doing" or "is doing". Because of this, the simple past form weinte translates to both "cried" and "was crying" depending on the context of the sentence.
Why is the verb kaufte placed before the subject ich in the middle clause?
The word deswegen (therefore/so) is an adverb, not a coordinating conjunction like und. Because it occupies the first position in its clause, the conjugated verb kaufte must take the strict second position in German. This pushes the subject ich into the third position, right after the verb.
Why isn't the subject ich repeated before tröstete?
Just like in English, if the subject is exactly the same in two clauses connected by und (and), you do not have to repeat it. Since ich is the subject for both the buying and the comforting, the second ich is safely left out.
Learn Meine Schwester weinte, deswegen kaufte ich ein Kuscheltier und tröstete sie and more in German
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free