Breakdown of Er hat uns von seiner Reise berichtet.
haben
to have
uns
us
sein
his
von
from, of / by (agent in passive clauses)
die Reise
the trip / the journey
berichten
to report (give an account)
Questions & Answers about Er hat uns von seiner Reise berichtet.
Why does the past participle berichtet not start with ge-?
The verb berichten starts with the inseparable prefix be-. Verbs with inseparable prefixes (like be-, ent-, er-, and ver-) never take a ge- at the beginning of their past participle. Since it is a regular verb, it just gets a -t at the end.
Why is it seiner Reise instead of seine Reise?
The preposition von always forces the following noun into the dative case. Because Reise is a feminine noun (die Reise), the possessive article seine changes to its dative feminine form, seiner.
Is uns in the accusative or dative case in this sentence?
It is in the dative case. The verb berichten takes a dative object to indicate the person you are giving the information to. The pronoun for "we" (wir) is uns in both accusative and dative, but here it acts as the dative receiver of the report.
What is the difference between berichten von and erzählen von?
While both mean "to tell about," berichten is more formal and factual, much like "to report" or "to give an account" in English. erzählen is used for casual storytelling. This makes berichten a great verb to use when dealing with news, facts, or hearsay!
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