Breakdown of Berühr diesen Pilz bloß nicht, weil er giftig ist!
sein
to be
er
he
nicht
not
dieser
this / that (fem.: diese, neut.: dieses)
weil
because (subordinating)
giftig
toxic
der Pilz
the mushroom
berühren
to touch
bloß
just (merely) / absolutely
Questions & Answers about Berühr diesen Pilz bloß nicht, weil er giftig ist!
How does the word bloß change the meaning of this command?
As a modal particle in a negative command, bloß makes the warning much stronger. Without it, Berühr diesen Pilz nicht just means 'Don't touch this mushroom'. Adding bloß turns it into a forceful 'Don't you dare touch this mushroom' or 'Just don't touch it!'
Why is the verb just Berühr instead of Berührst or Berühre?
This is the informal singular command (imperative) form. To give an order to one person you know well, you take the du form (du berührst) and drop both the -st and the pronoun. While you can technically add an -e to the end (Berühre), dropping it is extremely common in everyday spoken German.
Why does the second half say weil er when the English translation says 'because it'?
In German, pronouns must match the gender of the noun they replace. Because 'mushroom' is a masculine noun (der Pilz), you must use the masculine pronoun er to mean 'it', rather than the neuter pronoun es.
Why is it diesen Pilz rather than dieser Pilz?
Der Pilz is the direct object of the verb berühren because it is the thing being touched. This means it must take the accusative case. For masculine nouns, the word for 'this' changes from the nominative dieser to the accusative diesen.
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