Breakdown of Der chaotische Zwilling will spielen, der fleißige Bruder will dagegen arbeiten.
spielen
to play
arbeiten
to work
der Bruder
the brother
wollen
to want
dagegen
on the other hand, by contrast
der Zwilling
the twin
fleißig
diligent
chaotisch
chaotic
Questions & Answers about Der chaotische Zwilling will spielen, der fleißige Bruder will dagegen arbeiten.
Why is dagegen used here to mean "on the other hand"?
Dagegen literally means "against it", but it is commonly used to mean "on the other hand" or "in contrast". In German, you cannot translate the English phrase "on the other hand" word-for-word. Instead, you use adverbs like dagegen or hingegen.
Wait, doesn't will mean future tense in German?
This is a classic false friend! The German verb wollen (conjugated here as will) means "to want", not "will" as in the future tense. If you wanted to express the future tense like "will play", you would use the verb werden, making it wird spielen.
Why do the adjectives chaotische and fleißige both end in just -e?
These adjectives describe masculine nouns (der Zwilling and der Bruder) in the nominative case because they are the subjects of their clauses. Since the definite article (der) already shows the gender and case, the adjective only needs the weak ending, which is -e.
Could I start the second clause with dagegen?
Yes, you can absolutely say "... dagegen will der fleißige Bruder arbeiten. " Because dagegen is an adverb rather than a coordinating conjunction like und or aber, putting it in the first position means the conjugated verb (will) must stay in the second position, pushing the subject (der fleißige Bruder) to the third position.
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