Breakdown of Die intelligenten Füchse leben sowohl im Wald als auch in der Stadt.
in
in
die Stadt
the city
im
in the (used with months) / in the (contraction of in + dem)
leben
to live/reside (in a place)
der Fuchs
the fox
der Wald
the forest
sowohl ... als auch
both ... and
intelligent
intelligent
Questions & Answers about Die intelligenten Füchse leben sowohl im Wald als auch in der Stadt.
Why isn't there a comma before als auch?
Unlike many other German conjunctions, sowohl ... als auch (both ... and) does not use a comma to separate its two parts. It smoothly connects the two phrases it is combining, which in this case are the locations im Wald and in der Stadt.
Why do we use im for the forest but in der for the city?
Both locations use the two-way preposition in. Because the sentence describes a fixed location answering 'where?', we must use the dative case. Wald is masculine, so in dem contracts to im. Stadt is feminine, so its article becomes der in the dative case, making it in der Stadt.
Why does the adjective intelligenten end in -en here?
This is a quick refresher on weak adjective declension. Whenever you have a plural definite article like die (the), any adjective that comes between the article and the plural noun will always take an -en ending.
Can we change the word order to emphasize the locations instead of the foxes?
Yes! You can put the locations first: Sowohl im Wald als auch in der Stadt leben die intelligenten Füchse. Notice that because the entire sowohl ... als auch block acts as a single idea in the first position, the verb leben must immediately follow it to stay in the strict second position.
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