Breakdown of Wir hören nichts voneinander.
wir
we
hören
to hear / to listen
nichts
nothing
voneinander
from each other
Questions & Answers about Wir hören nichts voneinander.
How is voneinander formed?
It combines the preposition von (from) with the reciprocal pronoun einander (each other). In German, when a preposition is used with "each other", they are glued together into a single word.
Could I just use uns instead of einander?
Not here! Wir hören nichts von uns would mean "We hear nothing about ourselves" or "People aren't hearing from us." When an action goes back and forth between two or more people after a preposition, you use einander to clearly mean "each other".
Is this sentence only about literally hearing sounds?
No, it's very commonly used to mean "losing touch" or "having no contact." If you haven't texted or spoken to a friend in months, you can describe the situation by saying Wir hören nichts voneinander.
Why isn't nichts capitalized?
Although it translates to "nothing", nichts is an indefinite pronoun, not a noun, so it starts with a lowercase letter. It is only capitalized if it acts as a true noun with an article, like das Nichts (the nothingness).
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