Questions & Answers about In meiner Jugend erlebte ich viel.
How is the simple past formed for erlebte?
erleben (to experience) is a regular (weak) verb. To form the simple past, we take the stem erleb- and add the past tense marker -t-, followed by the ending for ich, which is -e. This gives us erlebte.
Why is the verb before the subject in erlebte ich?
In German main clauses, the conjugated verb must always be in the second position. Because the sentence starts with the time phrase In meiner Jugend (position 1), the verb erlebte must come next (position 2), pushing the subject ich to position 3.
Why do we use meiner instead of meine before Jugend?
The preposition in is a two-way preposition. When used to indicate a fixed period in time, it always takes the dative case. Since Jugend is a feminine noun (die Jugend), the possessive pronoun changes to the feminine dative form meiner.
Is there a difference between erleben and other verbs for experiencing something?
Yes. erleben specifically means to live through an event or experience something firsthand. If you want to say you gained professional experience or found out a piece of information, you would use the verb erfahren instead.