Breakdown of Einerseits liebt der Imker die Bienen, andererseits stechen sie manchmal.
sie
they
lieben
to love
manchmal
sometimes
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
stechen
to prick
einerseits
on the one hand
der Imker
the beekeeper
die Biene
the bee
andererseits
on the other hand
Questions & Answers about Einerseits liebt der Imker die Bienen, andererseits stechen sie manchmal.
Why do the subjects der Imker and sie come after the verbs in both halves of the sentence?
Because einerseits and andererseits are adverbs, not conjunctions like und or aber. When you put an adverb in the first position of a German main clause, the conjugated verb must take the second position. This pushes the subjects (der Imker and sie) into the third position, right after the verbs.
Could I start the clauses with the subjects instead of einerseits and andererseits?
Yes! You can say: Der Imker liebt einerseits die Bienen, sie stechen andererseits manchmal. In this case, the subjects take the first position, the verbs take the second, and the adverbs move to the middle. However, placing these connector words at the very beginning of the clauses strongly highlights the contrast.
The English translation says "on the one hand", but is there a literal word for "hand" in einerseits?
No. The suffix -seits actually comes from die Seite (the side). So literally, einerseits means "on one side" and andererseits means "on the other side". The English idiom uses "hand", while German uses "side".
Why do we need a comma between the two halves of this sentence?
The comma separates two independent main clauses. Because andererseits is an adverb and not a coordinating conjunction (like und or oder), you must use a comma to connect the two related statements.
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