Word
Viele Begräbnisse haben damals heimlich stattgefunden.
Meaning
Many funerals took place secretly back then.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Viele Begräbnisse haben damals heimlich stattgefunden.
haben
to have
viel
much / a lot
damals
back then
stattfinden
to take place
Questions & Answers about Viele Begräbnisse haben damals heimlich stattgefunden.
Why does the plural word Begräbnisse have a double 's' when the singular form Begräbnis only has one?
When forming the plural of nouns ending in -nis, you add -se to the end, which doubles the 's' in writing to keep the preceding vowel short. So das Begräbnis (the funeral) becomes die Begräbnisse. This predictable pattern applies to all -nis nouns, like das Ergebnis becoming die Ergebnisse.
Are nouns ending in -nis, like Begräbnis, always neuter (das)?
Most of them are neuter (das), like das Begräbnis or das Geheimnis (the secret). However, a few common ones are feminine (die), such as die Kenntnis (the knowledge) or die Erlaubnis (the permission). A helpful rule of thumb is that they are never masculine (der).
How is the past participle stattgefunden formed from the verb stattfinden?
Stattfinden (to take place) is a separable verb. When forming the perfect tense, the -ge- marker required for the past participle gets sandwiched directly between the separable prefix statt- and the irregular verb stem -funden. This merges into the single word stattgefunden placed at the very end of the sentence.