Breakdown of Der Erstflug über den Atlantik war im Jahr 1919.
sein
to be
das Jahr
the year
über
over, above
im
in the (used with months) / in the (contraction of in + dem)
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
der Erstflug
the maiden flight
der Atlantik
the Atlantic
Questions & Answers about Der Erstflug über den Atlantik war im Jahr 1919.
Why does the sentence use im Jahr 1919 instead of just in 1919?
In German, you cannot use the preposition in directly before a year like you do in English. You must either use the phrase im Jahr before the number, or simply state the year with no preposition at all. So, you could also perfectly say Der Erstflug über den Atlantik war 1919.
Can I add an -e to the end of Jahr and say im Jahre 1919?
Yes, absolutely! The form im Jahre uses an old, traditional dative ending. You will see both im Jahr and im Jahre used interchangeably in written German, though im Jahr without the extra -e is more common in modern everyday speech.
Why is it über den Atlantik (accusative) here instead of über dem Atlantik (dative)?
The preposition über is a two-way preposition. It takes the accusative case when describing a movement from one place to another, like crossing a boundary. Even without an active verb of motion, the noun Flug (flight) implies this physical movement across the ocean. If a helicopter were just hovering statically in place above the water, it would take the dative (über dem Atlantik).
How does the word Erstflug get its gender?
Erstflug is a compound noun made from erst- (first) and der Flug (the flight). In German, the gender of any compound noun is always determined by its final piece. Since Flug is masculine, der Erstflug is also masculine.
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