Breakdown of Er redet über das Gewinnspiel, allerdings lege ich auf.
ich
I
er
he
über
about (a topic)
reden
to talk
allerdings
however / admittedly (mind you)
das Gewinnspiel
the sweepstakes
auflegen
to hang up
Questions & Answers about Er redet über das Gewinnspiel, allerdings lege ich auf.
How could I rewrite this sentence to use the current lesson's word sooft (whenever)?
You would turn the first part into a subordinate clause starting with sooft, which pushes its conjugated verb to the end. The second part becomes the main clause and must start with its verb to satisfy the V2 (verb-second) rule. The result: Sooft er über das Gewinnspiel redet, lege ich auf. (Whenever he talks about the sweepstakes, I hang up.)
Why does the verb lege come right after allerdings?
The word allerdings (however) acts as an adverb here, occupying position 1 in the second clause. Because German main clauses require the verb in position 2, lege comes immediately after it, pushing the subject ich to position 3. If you had used the coordinating conjunction aber (but), it would take position 0 and not affect the word order: ...aber ich lege auf.
Why is das Gewinnspiel in the accusative case after über?
The word über is a two-way preposition. While it takes the dative case when describing a static physical location (above/over), it always requires the accusative case when used abstractly with verbs of speaking, feeling, or thinking. Therefore, reden über (to talk about) always takes an accusative object.
Is auflegen specific to hanging up a phone?
Yes! Auflegen is the standard separable verb for ending a phone call. It literally stems from the days of old telephones where you had to lay the receiver back onto the base to cut the connection. Because it is a separable verb used in a main clause, the prefix auf is pushed to the very end of the sentence.
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