Breakdown of Den Regeln entgegen überholte er und gefährdete uns.
er
he
und
and
uns
us
die Regel
the rule
überholen
to overtake
entgegen
contrary to
gefährden
to endanger
Questions & Answers about Den Regeln entgegen überholte er und gefährdete uns.
Why is entgegen placed after den Regeln instead of in front of it?
entgegen is one of the few German prepositions that can act as a postposition—meaning it is placed after the noun it modifies. When it means "contrary to," putting it after the noun is extremely common and natural, though Entgegen den Regeln is also grammatically correct.
What case is den Regeln, and why?
It is in the dative case, because entgegen always takes the dative, whether it is used before or after the noun. Since Regel (rule) is plural here, it uses the dative plural article den, and the noun takes its standard plural -n ending.
The prefix über- often separates from the verb. Why isn't it holte er über here?
The verb überholen is inseparable when it carries the meaning "to overtake" or "to pass" (like in traffic). In this meaning, the verbal stress is on the root (überHOLen), so the prefix stays attached. It only separates in the literal, much less common meaning of "to ferry across" (ÜBERholen).
Why is the subject er placed after the verb überholte?
The entire prepositional phrase Den Regeln entgegen acts as a single block occupying position 1 in the sentence. Because German requires the main conjugated verb to be in position 2 (the V2 rule), überholte must come next, which pushes the subject er to position 3.
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