Breakdown of Wir können ruhig frische Pilze sammeln, weil wir den Wald gut kennen.
gut
good / well
wir
we
kennen
to know (somebody/something)
können
can / to be able to
weil
because (subordinating)
sammeln
to gather
frisch
fresh
der Wald
the forest
der Pilz
the mushroom
ruhig
go ahead / feel free to (reassurance particle)
Questions & Answers about Wir können ruhig frische Pilze sammeln, weil wir den Wald gut kennen.
Doesn't ruhig usually mean "quiet" or "calm"? Why is it translated as "safely" here?
As a normal adjective, ruhig does mean "quiet" or "calm." But here it's acting as a modal particle (a small word that adds tone or emotion to a sentence). In this context, ruhig is used to express reassurance. It essentially tells the listener, "Don't worry, it's perfectly fine to do this." Translating it as "safely" or "go ahead and" captures that comforting vibe in English.
Why is the verb kennen at the very end of the sentence?
The word weil (because) is a subordinating conjunction. This means it introduces a dependent clause and automatically kicks the conjugated verb for that clause—in this case, kennen—all the way to the end.
Why is it frische Pilze with an -e at the end of the adjective?
Pilze (mushrooms) is plural, and in this sentence it is the direct object (accusative case). Because there is no article like die (the) or meine (my) in front of it, the adjective has to do the heavy lifting to show the case and number. It takes the strong ending -e, giving us frische Pilze.
Why does the sentence use den Wald instead of der Wald?
Wald (forest) is a masculine noun. Since "we" are the ones doing the knowing, the forest is the direct object receiving the action of the verb kennen. This puts it in the accusative case, which changes the masculine "the" from der to den.
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