Word
Wir machen am Sonntag einen Spaziergang.
Meaning
We are going for a walk on Sunday.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Wir machen am Sonntag einen Spaziergang.
machen
to make, to do
wir
we
an
at, on (vertical) / to (addressee) / of (in quantity/stock expressions)
der Sonntag
Sunday
Questions & Answers about Wir machen am Sonntag einen Spaziergang.
Why does the German sentence use machen instead of a verb for 'to go'?
In German, the standard phrase for 'to go for a walk' is einen Spaziergang machen (literally 'to make a walk'). You can also use the verb phrase spazieren gehen (as in Wir gehen am Sonntag spazieren), but you cannot translate 'to go for a walk' word-for-word.
Why is it am Sonntag rather than just an Sonntag?
Days of the week take the preposition an. Because days are masculine (der Sonntag) and the preposition an requires the dative case here to answer 'when?', it becomes an dem Sonntag. This is always contracted to am.
Why is the time (am Sonntag) placed before the object (einen Spaziergang)?
German sentences usually follow a rule where time elements come before the direct object. Since am Sonntag tells us when, it naturally comes before the accusative object einen Spaziergang.
Can I put am Sonntag at the beginning of the sentence?
Yes! You can say Am Sonntag machen wir einen Spaziergang. Moving the time to the first position is very common in German to add emphasis. Just remember that the conjugated verb (machen) must stay in position two, which pushes the subject (wir) to position three.