Breakdown of Aufgrund des Befehls hat das Katapult große Steine geworfen.
groß
big / tall
haben
to have
werfen
to throw
aufgrund
due to
der Stein
the stone
das Katapult
the catapult
der Befehl
the order
Questions & Answers about Aufgrund des Befehls hat das Katapult große Steine geworfen.
Why is it des Befehls instead of dem Befehl?
The preposition aufgrund (because of / due to) requires the genitive case. Since der Befehl (the order) is a masculine noun, the definite article changes to des, and we add an -s to the end of the noun. In casual spoken German, you might occasionally hear the dative (aufgrund von dem Befehl), but the genitive is the standard you should use at the B2 level.
Why does the adjective in große Steine end in -e rather than -en?
This is an example of strong adjective declension. Because there is no article before Steine (such as die or keine), the adjective itself has to do the heavy lifting to show the case and gender. Since Steine is plural and in the accusative case (it is the direct object being thrown), the adjective takes the strong ending -e. If a definite article were present, it would trigger the weak ending: die großen Steine.
What are the core forms of the verb that gives us geworfen?
geworfen is the past participle (Partizip II) of the strong verb werfen (to throw). Because it's irregular, its vowel shifts across its forms: werfen (infinitive), wirft (he/she/it throws), warf (simple past), and hat geworfen (present perfect).
This lesson focuses on kommen + Past Participle. How could we apply that structure to the flying stones in this scenario?
If you wanted to describe the result of the catapult's action from the perspective of the target, you could say: Die großen Steine kamen geflogen (The large stones came flying). Notice that while English uses the present participle ("flying"), German uses kommen paired with the past participle (geflogen) of a motion verb to describe the manner in which something arrives.
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