Breakdown of Der Fahrplan ist zwar gut, aber zur Stoßzeit fehlt oft der Anschluss.
sein
to be
oft
often
gut
good / well
aber
but
zur
to the (zu + der)
fehlen
to be missing
zwar
admittedly
der Fahrplan
the timetable
die Stoßzeit
the rush hour
der Anschluss
the connection (transit, utilities)
Questions & Answers about Der Fahrplan ist zwar gut, aber zur Stoßzeit fehlt oft der Anschluss.
Why is zwar in the middle of the first clause instead of at the beginning?
While you can start a sentence with Zwar (Zwar ist der Fahrplan gut...), it is very common to place it after the conjugated verb. It acts like an adverb here, meaning admittedly or true, setting up the contrast that comes with aber.
After aber, why is the verb fehlt placed before the subject der Anschluss?
The word aber is a coordinating conjunction, which means it occupies position zero and does not count towards the clause's word order. The first actual piece of information in the second clause is the time phrase zur Stoßzeit (position 1). Because the conjugated verb must always take position 2 in a main clause, fehlt comes next, pushing the subject der Anschluss to a later spot.
How does zur work in the phrase zur Stoßzeit?
The word zur is a mandatory contraction of the preposition zu and the feminine dative article der. The noun die Stoßzeit (the rush hour) changes its article to der because the preposition zu always forces the dative case.
What is the literal translation of the compound word Stoßzeit?
It literally translates to push time or bump time. It comes from the verb stoßen (to push, bump, or thrust) and die Zeit (time). It is a very descriptive German way to talk about rush hour crowds!
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