Learn German: Wegen der Wirtschaft sinken die Preise. - Because of the economy, prices are falling.

Wegen der Wirtschaft sinken die Preise.

Because of the economy, prices are falling.

Breakdown of Wegen der Wirtschaft sinken die Preise.

to fall / to sink (go under water)

Questions & Answers about Wegen der Wirtschaft sinken die Preise.

Why is it der Wirtschaft if the noun is feminine (die Wirtschaft)?

The preposition wegen requires the genitive case. For feminine nouns, the genitive definite article changes from die to der.

Why is the verb sinken placed before the subject die Preise?

German strictly follows the V2 (verb-second) rule. The entire phrase Wegen der Wirtschaft takes up the first position in the sentence. Therefore, the verb sinken must be in the second position, which pushes the subject die Preise to the third position.

I have heard that wegen is sometimes used with the dative case in spoken German. How does that change this sentence?

You are right that native speakers often use the dative with wegen in everyday casual speech. However, for feminine nouns, the dative article is also der. So whether you treat it as the grammatically correct genitive or the colloquial dative, it stays Wegen der Wirtschaft either way!

Could I use fallen instead of sinken to say the prices are falling?

Yes, you can absolutely say fallen die Preise, but sinken is the most natural and commonly used verb in German when talking about abstract values like prices, numbers, or temperatures going down.