Breakdown of Wegen eines schlechten Jahres übergeben sie den Betrieb.
ein
a, an (eine)
sie
they
das Jahr
the year
schlecht
bad
wegen
because of
der Betrieb
the business
übergeben
to hand over
Questions & Answers about Wegen eines schlechten Jahres übergeben sie den Betrieb.
Why do we say eines schlechten Jahres with those specific endings?
The preposition wegen (because of) requires the genitive case. Since Jahr is neuter (das Jahr), the indefinite article becomes eines. In the genitive case, whenever you have an article like eines, the adjective following it always takes the ending -en, making it schlechten.
Why is an -es added to the end of Jahr to make Jahres?
In the genitive case, masculine and neuter nouns usually add an -s or -es to the end. For one-syllable words like Jahr, adding -es is the standard rule, which makes it easier to pronounce as Jahres.
I sometimes hear Germans use wegen with the dative case. Is the genitive strictly required here?
In formal and written German, wegen always takes the genitive case, as shown here. However, in everyday spoken German, you will often hear people use the dative case with it, like wegen einem schlechten Jahr. For your B1 exams, it is best to stick to the genitive!
über is usually a separable prefix. Why isn't the verb split into geben sie den Betrieb über?
The verb übergeben (to hand over) is inseparable. When a prefix is inseparable, the verb stays in one piece and does not move to the end of the sentence. Many verbs with über- can be either separable or inseparable depending on their exact meaning, but for handing over property or a business, it never separates.
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