Breakdown of Wir sind zwar am Gewinnen, aber sie greifen die Basis an.
sein
to be
aber
but
wir
we
sie
they
gewinnen
to win
am
on the / at the
zwar
admittedly
angreifen
to attack
die Basis
the base
Questions & Answers about Wir sind zwar am Gewinnen, aber sie greifen die Basis an.
Why is Gewinnen capitalized in am Gewinnen?
In the colloquial am-progressive structure, you use am (which is a contraction of an dem) followed by a noun. This means the verb gewinnen (to win) is turned into a noun (nominalized) and must be capitalized: das Gewinnen (the winning).
Does Wir sind zwar am Gewinnen mean exactly the same as Wir gewinnen zwar?
They are very similar, but am Gewinnen emphasizes that the action is actively happening right at this exact moment. It translates closely to the English continuous form, whereas Wir gewinnen zwar can mean both 'we are winning' and 'we win' in a broader sense. Keep in mind that the am-progressive is mostly used in spoken, colloquial German.
What role does zwar play here alongside aber?
zwar is used to concede a point before introducing a counter-argument, acting like 'admittedly' or 'it is true that' in English. It forms a very common pair with aber (but) later in the sentence: 'Admittedly we are winning, but...'
Why is an at the very end of the sentence?
It is the prefix of the separable verb angreifen (to attack). In a standard main clause like sie greifen die Basis an, the conjugated core (greifen) takes the second position (ignoring aber which counts as position zero), and the separable prefix (an) gets sent to the very end of the clause.
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