Word
Nach der Entdeckung des Grabes beginnt die Ausgrabung.
Meaning
After the discovery of the tomb, the excavation begins.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Nach der Entdeckung des Grabes beginnt die Ausgrabung.
nach
after (in time)
beginnen
to begin (formal, more than anfangen)
die Entdeckung
the discovery
das Grab
the tomb
Questions & Answers about Nach der Entdeckung des Grabes beginnt die Ausgrabung.
How would this sentence look if we used a 'nachdem' clause instead of the preposition 'nach'?
To use nachdem (after), you need a full subclause with a subject and a conjugated verb, like: Nachdem das Grab entdeckt wurde, beginnt die Ausgrabung. (After the tomb was discovered...). By using the preposition nach with the noun Entdeckung, we compress that whole clause into a single phrase. This is called nominalization and is very common in written or formal German.
In this nominalized phrase, why is it 'des Grabes' in the genitive case?
When you turn an action into a noun (like changing the verb entdecken into the noun die Entdeckung), the original object of that action usually becomes a genitive attribute. Instead of saying 'discovering the tomb', the German structure becomes 'the discovery of the tomb' (die Entdeckung des Grabes).
Why does the verb 'beginnt' come right after 'Grabes'?
Even though Nach der Entdeckung des Grabes is five words long, it counts as a single block of information (a prepositional phrase) occupying position 1 in the sentence. Because of the strict V2 rule, the conjugated verb beginnt must take position 2. The subject die Ausgrabung then follows right after.
Why do we use 'der' before 'Entdeckung' if words ending in '-ung' are feminine?
The preposition nach always triggers the dative case. Since Entdeckung is indeed feminine, its dative definite article changes to der.