Breakdown of Der faule Zwilling schläft lange, aber der fleißige Bruder arbeitet.
arbeiten
to work
aber
but
schlafen
to sleep
der Bruder
the brother
lange
for a long time, long
der Zwilling
the twin
fleißig
diligent
faul
lazy
Questions & Answers about Der faule Zwilling schläft lange, aber der fleißige Bruder arbeitet.
Why is the adjective ending in Der faule just -e instead of -er for a masculine noun?
Because the definite article der already shows that the noun is masculine and in the nominative (subject) case. When the article does this heavy lifting, the adjective takes the weak ending, which is simply -e.
Why does the sentence use lange instead of lang to mean long?
In German, lange is used specifically as an adverb of time to mean for a long time. The word lang is generally used as an adjective to describe physical length, like a long road or a long piece of string.
Why doesn't the word aber push the conjugated verb arbeitet to the end of its clause, the way weil would?
The word aber is a coordinating conjunction. Conjunctions in this group (which also includes und, oder, denn, and sondern) do not change the word order. They sit in position zero, so the subject der fleißige Bruder takes position one and the verb stays in its normal position two.
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