Breakdown of Beim Tierarzt hatte der kranke Patient schreckliche Angst.
haben
to have
beim
at the (bei + dem)
die Angst
the fear
krank
sick
schrecklich
terrible, awful
der Tierarzt
the veterinarian
der Patient
the patient
Questions & Answers about Beim Tierarzt hatte der kranke Patient schreckliche Angst.
Why do we use beim Tierarzt instead of something like im Tierarzt to say 'at the vet'?
In German, when you talk about being at a professional's workplace or someone's home (like a doctor, vet, or friend), you use the preposition bei plus the dative case. Since Tierarzt is masculine, it becomes bei dem, which contracts to beim.
The English translation says 'terribly afraid' (adverb + adjective). Why does the German sentence use schreckliche Angst (adjective + noun)?
While English often expresses feelings with the verb 'to be' plus an adjective (to be afraid, to be thirsty), German frequently uses the verb haben (to have) plus a noun (Angst, meaning fear). Because Angst is a noun, the word describing it must be an adjective (schreckliche), so it literally translates to 'had terrible fear'.
Let's review the adjective endings. Why do both adjectives end in -e in der kranke Patient and schreckliche Angst?
They end in -e for different reasons. Patient is a masculine noun in the nominative case. Because it follows the definite article der, the adjective takes the weak ending -e (der kranke). Angst is a feminine noun in the accusative case. Since there is no article before it, the adjective takes the strong ending for feminine accusative, which is also -e (schreckliche).
Why does the subject der kranke Patient come after the verb hatte?
This is due to the strict verb-second (V2) rule in German main clauses. The sentence starts with the prepositional phrase Beim Tierarzt in position one. The conjugated verb hatte must take the second position, pushing the subject der kranke Patient right behind it into position three.
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