Breakdown of Nach langer Suche haben wir das Auto gefunden.
haben
to have
das Auto
the car
wir
we
finden
to find
Questions & Answers about Nach langer Suche haben wir das Auto gefunden.
Since this lesson is about nominalized infinitives, could I say Nach langem Suchen instead of Nach langer Suche?
Yes, you absolutely can! Die Suche is a standard noun meaning the search, while das Suchen is the nominalized infinitive meaning the act of searching. If you used the nominalized infinitive here, it would be nach langem Suchen because all nominalized verbs are neuter. Both work well, though die Suche is a bit more common for a specific mission like finding a car.
Why is the adjective ending -er in langer Suche?
The preposition nach always requires the dative case. Because Suche is feminine (die Suche) and there is no article before the adjective (like einer or der), the adjective has to do the heavy lifting to show the case. It takes the strong dative feminine ending, which is -er.
Why is the word order haben wir and not wir haben?
In German main clauses, the conjugated verb must always sit in the second position. Because the phrase Nach langer Suche takes up the entire first position, the subject (wir) has to move right after the verb to keep haben securely in position number two.
I previously learned that nach means to, like in nach Berlin. Why does it mean after here?