Breakdown of Ich bin mir meiner Schuld völlig bewusst.
ich
I
sein
to be
mein
my
mir
me / to me (dative)
die Schuld
the guilt
völlig
completely
bewusst
aware
Questions & Answers about Ich bin mir meiner Schuld völlig bewusst.
Why is it meiner Schuld in the Genitive case?
The adjective bewusst belongs to a special group of German adjectives that directly govern the Genitive case. The fixed expression is sich einer Sache (Genitive) bewusst sein (to be aware of something).
Why use the Dative reflexive pronoun mir instead of the Accusative mich?
The expression requires the Dative reflexive pronoun (mir, dir, sich, etc.). A helpful way to remember this is that the Genitive object (meiner Schuld) acts as the primary object here, which forces the reflexive pronoun into the Dative case.
I see 'of my guilt' in the English translation. Why is there no German preposition like von here?
The Genitive case itself carries the meaning of 'of.' Because the adjective bewusst takes a direct Genitive object, adding a preposition like von is unnecessary and would actually be grammatically incorrect.
Why is bewusst pushed all the way to the end of the sentence?
In fixed expressions using sein combined with an adjective, the adjective functions similarly to a separable prefix or a past participle. It gets kicked to the end of the main clause, creating a bracket around the objects and adverbs.
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