Breakdown of Es fliegen diesen Monat viele Zugvögel in das Winterquartier.
es
it
in
in
viel
much / a lot
dieser
this / that (fem.: diese, neut.: dieses)
fliegen
to fly
der Monat
the month
der Zugvogel
the migratory bird
das Winterquartier
the winter quarters
Questions & Answers about Es fliegen diesen Monat viele Zugvögel in das Winterquartier.
Why is diesen Monat in the accusative case here instead of using a preposition?
German often expresses definite periods of time without a preposition by using the accusative case. This is called the adverbial accusative. You could also say in diesem Monat (using the dative after the preposition in), but the preposition-free diesen Monat is very common and means exactly the same thing.
What is the word Es doing at the beginning of the sentence? Is it the subject?
Es acts as a placeholder or dummy subject here just to fill the first position in the sentence. The actual subject is viele Zugvögel, which is plural, which is why the verb is the plural form fliegen. Using es like this is a stylistic choice to set a scene, and it disappears if you move another element to the front, for example: Diesen Monat fliegen viele Zugvögel in das Winterquartier.
Why does the sentence use in das Winterquartier (accusative) instead of in dem Winterquartier (dative)?
The preposition in is a two-way preposition. Because the birds are actively moving towards a destination (flying into the winter quarters), it takes the accusative case. If they were already there and just flying around inside the quarters, you would use the dative case (in dem or im Winterquartier).
Is the word Zugvögel related to the word for a train (der Zug)?
Yes, but indirectly! Both come from the verb ziehen, which means to pull, move, or migrate. A train (der Zug) pulls cars, and a migratory bird (der Zugvogel) moves or migrates across regions.
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