Breakdown of Mein Vater hat heftig gestritten mit der ganzen Verwandtschaft.
haben
to have
mein
my
der Vater
the father
mit
with
Questions & Answers about Mein Vater hat heftig gestritten mit der ganzen Verwandtschaft.
Wait, shouldn't gestritten go at the very end of the sentence?
Usually, yes! The standard word order would be Mein Vater hat heftig mit der ganzen Verwandtschaft gestritten. However, German allows you to move long or important prepositional phrases (like mit der ganzen Verwandtschaft) into the Nachfeld (the position after the final verb). Speakers do this to emphasize the phrase or to make the sentence flow better by not making the listener wait too long for the main action.
Is there a difference between die Familie and die Verwandtschaft?
Yes. Familie usually refers to your immediate family. Verwandtschaft, on the other hand, refers to your extended family or all your relatives as a collective group (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.).
Why does the feminine word Verwandtschaft take der and ganzen here?
The preposition mit always requires the dative case. In the dative case, the feminine article die changes to der. Because we now have a definite article (der), the adjective takes the weak ending -en, making it ganzen.
I've seen sich streiten used for arguing. Could this sentence use the reflexive form?