Breakdown of Entweder ignorierst du ihn, oder du bist das Jammern gewohnt.
sein
to be
du
you (informal singular)
ihn
him
ignorieren
to ignore
entweder ... oder
either ... or
gewohnt
used to
das Jammern
the whining
Questions & Answers about Entweder ignorierst du ihn, oder du bist das Jammern gewohnt.
Why is das Jammern in the accusative case here instead of using a preposition like an?
The adjective gewohnt is part of a small group of German adjectives that strictly take a direct accusative object. While you might try to literally translate the English "used TO" and look for a preposition, the phrase gewohnt sein directly attaches to the accusative noun phrase das Jammern without one.
Why does the first clause invert the subject and verb (ignorierst du), but the second clause (oder du bist) does not?
The word Entweder can occupy position 1 in a sentence, which pushes the verb ignorierst to position 2 and the subject du to position 3. However, oder is a coordinating conjunction, which is a position 0 word. The word order counting restarts after it, placing the subject du in position 1 and the verb bist in its normal position 2.
I know jammern is a verb. Why is it capitalized and treated as a noun here?
This is a substantivized infinitive. In German, you can turn any verb into a neuter noun to describe the act of doing that action, much like the English "-ing" gerund (the whining, the complaining). You simply capitalize the infinitive and use the article das.
I sometimes see this spelled as gewöhnt with an umlaut. Can I use that here?
No, because they function differently. The adjective gewohnt without an umlaut describes the state of being used to something and takes the accusative directly. If you use gewöhnt, you are using the participle of the reflexive verb sich an etwas gewöhnen, which describes the active process of getting used to something and requires the preposition an (for example: du hast dich an das Jammern gewöhnt).
Learn Entweder ignorierst du ihn, oder du bist das Jammern gewohnt 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