Breakdown of Ehe wir anfangen, holen wir allerlei Fläschchen.
wir
we
anfangen
to start
holen
to get / to fetch
ehe
before
allerlei
all sorts of
das Fläschchen
the little bottle
Questions & Answers about Ehe wir anfangen, holen wir allerlei Fläschchen.
How does allerlei decline in this sentence, considering it comes before the plural noun Fläschchen?
It doesn't decline at all! Words ending in the suffix -erlei (like allerlei, zweierlei, and vielerlei) are invariant adjectives. This means they never change their endings to match the gender, case, or number of the noun they describe.
Is Fläschchen singular or plural here, and how can we tell?
It is plural here. Nouns with the diminutive suffix -chen are always neuter, and their plural form is identical to their singular form. We know it refers to multiple little bottles because it is paired with allerlei (all sorts of), which logically implies a variety of items.
Why is the word order holen wir instead of wir holen?
The subordinate clause Ehe wir anfangen takes up the entire first position of the overall sentence. In German, the conjugated verb of the main clause must always be in the second position, so holen comes immediately after the comma, followed by the subject wir.
What is the difference between ehe and bevor?
They mean exactly the same thing and act as subordinate conjunctions. Bevor is generally more common in everyday speech, while ehe can sound just a little bit more formal or literary, but they are completely interchangeable.
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