Breakdown of Mein Großvater ist geistig sehr wach, aber er braucht einen Rollstuhl.
sein
to be
ein
a, an (eine)
er
he
sehr
very
aber
but
brauchen
to need
mein
my
wach
awake
der Großvater
the grandfather (neutral register)
geistig
mental
der Rollstuhl
the wheelchair
Questions & Answers about Mein Großvater ist geistig sehr wach, aber er braucht einen Rollstuhl.
I know wach translates to awake, but here it means alert. Is geistig wach a common phrase?
Yes. While wach literally means awake, pairing it with geistig (mentally) is the standard way to describe someone who is mentally sharp, lucid, or alert. You will also frequently hear the alternative geistig fit.
This lesson focuses on the absolute comparative. Since we are talking about an aging grandfather, how could we use an absolute comparative to describe his age?
You could refer to him as ein älterer Herr or ein älterer Mann. In German, using the comparative form without a direct comparison (like with the word als) is called the absolute comparative. It softens the adjective, so älter here simply means elderly or quite old, rather than strictly older than someone else.
Why does the verb braucht come right after er instead of being pushed to the very end of the sentence?
The word aber is a coordinating conjunction (along with und, oder, denn, and sondern). These conjunctions occupy position zero in a sentence, meaning they do not count towards the standard word order. The subject er takes position one, and the verb braucht takes its normal place in position two.
What is the literal breakdown of the compound noun Rollstuhl?
It is made from the verb stem roll- (from rollen, meaning to roll) and the noun Stuhl (chair). Since the last word in a German compound noun always determines the gender, it takes the masculine gender of der Stuhl. That is why it takes the accusative masculine ending to become einen Rollstuhl in this sentence.
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