Breakdown of Meine Eltern haben heute keine Zeit füreinander.
haben
to have
kein
no, not any
die Zeit
the time
heute
today
mein
my
die Eltern
the parents
füreinander
for each other
Questions & Answers about Meine Eltern haben heute keine Zeit füreinander.
Why is füreinander written as one single word?
When you combine a preposition (like für, mit, or an) with the reciprocal pronoun einander (each other), they always merge into a single word. So 'for each other' becomes füreinander, never für einander.
Could I use the reflexive pronoun 'sich' here instead, like 'für sich'?
No, that would change the meaning! If you said für sich, it would mean 'for themselves' (each parent having time for their own individual self, but not necessarily for one another). By using füreinander, you make it clear that the relationship is reciprocal: they have no time for each other.
Why does heute come before keine Zeit?
In German, expressions of time (like heute) usually come as early as possible in the sentence, typically right after the conjugated verb. They also tend to come before the noun objects they apply to, so heute naturally sits before keine Zeit.
Why do we use keine instead of nicht to say they 'do not have time'?
As a quick refresher: when you negate a noun that is being used without an article (like Zeit here), you use kein-. You generally use nicht to negate verbs, adjectives, or nouns that have a definite article. Since Zeit is a feminine noun, it takes the feminine ending -e, making it keine Zeit.
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