Breakdown of Das Baby hat lauter geschrien als die Kinder.
das Kind
the child
haben
to have
das Baby
the baby
laut
loud, loudly
als
than
schreien
to scream
Questions & Answers about Das Baby hat lauter geschrien als die Kinder.
Why is als die Kinder placed after the past participle geschrien?
Usually, the past participle goes at the very end of a main clause. However, comparisons starting with als or wie are frequently moved to the Nachfeld (the position after the final verb). This makes the sentence flow better and avoids cluttering the middle of the sentence.
Could we move lauter into the Nachfeld too, like ...hat geschrien lauter als die Kinder?
No, you cannot. Only the comparison phrase itself (als die Kinder) is allowed in the Nachfeld. The comparative adverb (lauter) must remain in the middle of the sentence, before the past participle.
Why is die Kinder in the nominative case here?
In German comparisons using als, the noun after als takes the same case as the noun it is being compared to. Here, the children are compared to the subject, Das Baby (nominative), so die Kinder must also be in the nominative case.
Why is the past participle geschrien instead of geschreit?
The verb schreien (to scream/cry) is a strong (irregular) verb. It changes its stem vowel from 'ei' to 'ie' to form the participle geschrien. It does not take the regular weak ending -t.
Learn Das Baby hat lauter geschrien als die Kinder and more in German
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free