Breakdown of Einerseits pflegt er den Bienenstock, andererseits bekommt er den Honig.
er
he
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
bekommen
to receive / to get (be given)
pflegen
to care for
Questions & Answers about Einerseits pflegt er den Bienenstock, andererseits bekommt er den Honig.
Why does the subject er come after the verbs pflegt and bekommt?
Einerseits and andererseits are adverbs, not coordinating conjunctions like und or aber. When they are put at the very beginning of a clause, they take up position 1. The verb must stay in position 2, which pushes the subject (er) into position 3.
Do einerseits and andererseits always have to be at the beginning of their clauses?
No, they can also be placed later in the sentence. If you start with the subject, the sentence would be: Er pflegt einerseits den Bienenstock, er bekommt andererseits den Honig. Placing the connectors at the very beginning, as in this example, just puts a stronger emphasis on the contrast.
What is the literal breakdown of the words einerseits and andererseits?
They literally translate to "on one side" and "on the other side". They are built by combining eine (one) and andere (other) with the noun Seite (side), plus an extra -s at the end which is used to turn the phrase into an adverb.
Why do we use den for both Bienenstock and Honig?