Breakdown of Die Tiere nebst den Käfigen sind teils gewaltig, teils gefährlich.
sein
to be
das Tier
the animal
gefährlich
dangerous
der Käfig
the cage
teils
partly
nebst
alongside / together with (in addition to)
gewaltig
massive / enormous
Questions & Answers about Die Tiere nebst den Käfigen sind teils gewaltig, teils gefährlich.
Why does this sentence use nebst instead of mit?
While mit simply means "with," nebst is a more formal preposition that specifically means "along with" or "in addition to." It requires the dative case, which is why we see the dative plural den Käfigen here. You will mostly encounter nebst in written German or formal contexts.
Does nebst turn a singular subject into a plural one, like und does?
No, it doesn't. The verb sind is plural here simply because the main subject, Die Tiere (the animals), is plural. Prepositional phrases with nebst do not compound the subject. If the sentence were about a single animal, it would use a singular verb: Das Tier nebst den Käfigen ist... (The animal along with the cages is...).
Is there a difference in meaning between nebst and samt?
They are very similar formal dative prepositions, but they have a slight nuance. samt implies that the items form a natural set or a complete package (e.g., a mother along with her children). nebst is closer to "besides" or "as well as," simply adding an extra, sometimes less connected item to the main subject, like the cages being mentioned alongside the animals here.
How does the teils ..., teils ... structure work?
The structure teils ..., teils ... is a two-part conjunction that translates to "partly ..., partly ..." or "some ..., some ...". In this sentence, it efficiently describes a mix of traits, telling us that among the animals and cages, some are massive (gewaltig) and some are dangerous (gefährlich).
Learn Die Tiere nebst den Käfigen sind teils gewaltig, teils gefährlich and more in German
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free