Breakdown of Der Journalist recherchiert den Mythos, aber er ist keineswegs wahr.
sein
to be
er
he
aber
but
wahr
true
der Journalist
the journalist (male)
recherchieren
to research (gather information)
der Mythos
the myth
keineswegs
by no means
Questions & Answers about Der Journalist recherchiert den Mythos, aber er ist keineswegs wahr.
Why use keineswegs here instead of just saying nicht?
The word keineswegs means "by no means" or "not in any way." It belongs to a group of advanced negation words that strongly amplify the negation. While aber er ist nicht wahr simply states a fact, using keineswegs adds a lot of emphasis, making the rejection of the myth much stronger and slightly more formal.
Why is the pronoun er used in the second clause if it translates to "it" in English?
In German, pronouns must match the grammatical gender of the noun they refer back to. The pronoun er refers back to der Mythos (the myth), which is a masculine noun. Even though a myth is an inanimate concept and takes "it" in English, you must use er in German. Using es here would be a grammatical mistake.
Can I say recherchiert über den Mythos instead of recherchiert den Mythos?
Yes, you can use recherchieren über (followed by the accusative case) or recherchieren nach (followed by the dative case). However, recherchieren is frequently used as a transitive verb, meaning it takes a direct accusative object with no preposition. Saying er recherchiert den Mythos is completely standard and often sounds more direct and elegant.
The noun Mythos has an unusual ending. How does it change in the plural?
Der Mythos is a loanword from Greek, which explains the -os ending in the singular. In the plural, it drops the -os and takes the standard German -en ending, becoming die Mythen.
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