Breakdown of Die Gegner sprechen schlecht übereinander.
sprechen
to speak
schlecht
bad
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
der Gegner
the opponent
übereinander
about each other
Questions & Answers about Die Gegner sprechen schlecht übereinander.
Why is it übereinander as one word instead of two (über einander)?
When a preposition like über (about) is used with einander (each other), they merge into a single compound word. This happens with almost all prepositions, giving us words like miteinander (with each other) or voneinander (from each other).
Could I just say über sich instead of übereinander?
You could, but it changes or confuses the meaning! If you say Die Gegner sprechen schlecht über sich, it usually means they are speaking badly about themselves. Using übereinander makes it crystal clear that they are doing it to each other.
Since Gegner doesn't have a plural ending, how can we tell it means multiple opponents here?
Why doesn't schlecht have an ending here?
In German, words that describe verbs (adverbs) don't take any endings. Because schlecht describes how they speak, it stays in its base form.
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