Breakdown of Wegen der Phobie zittere ich, wenn ich daran denke, dass ich fliegen muss.
ich
I
fliegen
to fly
müssen
to have to, must
daran
about it / of it
dass
that
wenn
if / when (conditional, not a question word)
denken an
to think about
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
wegen
because of
zittern
to tremble
die Phobie
the phobia
Questions & Answers about Wegen der Phobie zittere ich, wenn ich daran denke, dass ich fliegen muss.
Why do we need daran here? Can't we just say wenn ich denke, dass...?
In German, the verb denken requires the preposition an when you are thinking about something (an etwas denken). Because a whole dass-clause is coming up instead of just a regular noun, we need a placeholder in the main clause. We combine da- + r + an to make daran. It acts like saying 'when I think about the fact that...' in English.
Why is it zittere ich instead of ich zittere?
German main clauses follow a strict 'verb-second' rule. This sentence starts with the prepositional phrase Wegen der Phobie taking up the entire first position. Therefore, the conjugated verb zittere must come immediately after it in position 2, pushing the subject ich to position 3.
Why is it der Phobie? Isn't Phobie a feminine word?
Yes, Phobie is feminine (die Phobie). However, the preposition wegen (because of) triggers the genitive case. In the genitive case, the feminine article die changes to der.
In the final clause, why is the order fliegen muss rather than muss fliegen?
The word dass is a subordinating conjunction, which means it kicks the conjugated verb to the very end of its clause. The conjugated verb here is the modal verb muss, so it must go to the very end, landing after the infinitive fliegen.
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