Word
Das Glas ist auf den Boden gefallen.
Meaning
The glass fell onto the floor.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Das Glas ist auf den Boden gefallen.
sein
to be
auf
on / to (down/up to a level)
das Glas
the glass
der Boden
the floor / the ground
Questions & Answers about Das Glas ist auf den Boden gefallen.
Why aren't directional adverbs like herunter or hinunter used in this sentence, since that is our current topic?
This sentence already specifies the exact destination with the phrase auf den Boden (onto the floor). Directional adverbs like herunter (down toward the speaker) are often used when a destination isn't explicitly named, such as in Das Glas ist heruntergefallen (The glass fell down).
Could I add a directional adverb to this sentence anyway?
Yes! If you want to be very descriptive, you could say Das Glas ist auf den Boden hinuntergefallen (The glass fell down onto the floor). However, since auf den Boden already implies the downward direction, simply using gefallen is much more common and sounds more natural here.
Why is it auf den Boden (accusative) instead of auf dem Boden (dative)?
The preposition auf is a two-way preposition. Because the glass is moving toward a destination, we use the accusative case to answer the question where to? (Wohin?). If the glass were already resting on the floor, we would use the dative case to answer where? (Wo?) and say auf dem Boden.
Why does this sentence use ist instead of hat to form the past tense?