Breakdown of Der Mörder rannte zum Bahnhof, obwohl er die Gefahr kannte.
er
he
der Bahnhof
the train station
kennen
to know (somebody/something)
zum
to the (zu + dem)
rennen
to run
die Gefahr
the danger
obwohl
although
der Mörder
the murderer
Questions & Answers about Der Mörder rannte zum Bahnhof, obwohl er die Gefahr kannte.
Why do rannte and kannte both have a vowel change but also end in -te?
These are classic examples of mixed verbs. They act like regular verbs because they take the simple past ending -te, but they also act like irregular verbs because their stem vowel changes. For both rennen (to run) and kennen (to know), the stem vowel shifts from e in the present tense to a in the simple past.
Why is kannte used for "knew" instead of a form of wissen?
In German, kennen means to be familiar with a noun, such as a person, place, or thing (in this case, die Gefahr, the danger). You use wissen when you know a fact or piece of information, which is usually followed by a new clause (for example, "He knew that it was dangerous").
Why is the verb kannte pushed all the way to the end of the sentence?
The word obwohl (although) is a subordinating conjunction. It introduces a dependent clause, which strictly requires the conjugated verb—here, kannte—to be placed at the very end of that clause.
Why does the sentence use zum Bahnhof instead of just zu dem Bahnhof?
The preposition zu always requires the dative case. Because Bahnhof (train station) is a masculine noun, its dative definite article is dem. While zu dem is grammatically correct, German speakers almost always merge them into the contraction zum.
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