Breakdown of Wir müssen heute wegen des Sturms schnell von hier ablegen, sonst verlieren wir Zeit.
hier
here
schnell
fast, quickly
die Zeit
the time
wir
we
heute
today
müssen
to have to, must
von
from, of / by (agent in passive clauses)
der Sturm
the storm
verlieren
to lose
sonst
otherwise, or else
wegen
because of
ablegen
to cast off
Questions & Answers about Wir müssen heute wegen des Sturms schnell von hier ablegen, sonst verlieren wir Zeit.
How does this sentence perfectly demonstrate the TeKaMoLo rule?
The middle section of the sentence contains four adverbial phrases that follow the standard TeKaMoLo order: Temporal (when? heute), Kausal (why? wegen des Sturms), Modal (how? schnell), and Lokal (where from? von hier).
Why is it wegen des Sturms instead of wegen dem Sturm?
The preposition wegen formally requires the genitive case. This means we use the genitive article des and add the -s ending to the masculine noun Sturm. While you will often hear the dative (wegen dem Sturm) in casual spoken German, the genitive is the standard rule you should master at the B2 level.
Why is the verb verlieren right after sonst, rather than after the subject wir?
The word sonst (otherwise) is an adverb, not a regular coordinating conjunction like und or aber. Because it occupies position 1 in the second clause, the conjugated verb verlieren must stay in position 2, which pushes the subject wir into position 3.
Since ablegen is a separable verb, why isn't the prefix ab at the end of the clause?
Because of the modal verb müssen. When a modal verb is the conjugated verb in position 2, the main verb is pushed to the very end of the clause in its full, unseparated infinitive form (ablegen).
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