Breakdown of Schweren Herzens haben wir die Heimat zurückgelassen, sodass wir heimatlos geworden sind.
sein
to be
haben
to have
wir
we
schwer
heavy / severe, serious
werden
to become / to get (change of state)
das Herz
the heart
sodass
so that (as a result)
die Heimat
the homeland
zurücklassen
to leave behind (physically)
heimatlos
homeless
Questions & Answers about Schweren Herzens haben wir die Heimat zurückgelassen, sodass wir heimatlos geworden sind.
Why is there no preposition like "mit" in schweren Herzens?
This is an adverbial genitive of manner. Instead of using a prepositional phrase like mit einem schweren Herzen, German can use a noun phrase in the genitive case to describe how an action is performed. The phrase acts like an adverb describing the verb zurückgelassen.
Why does Herz get an -ens ending in schweren Herzens instead of a regular -s?
The word das Herz (the heart) is a special noun in German. It belongs to a small group of irregular nouns that add -ens in the genitive singular, rather than the standard -s or -es you would normally expect for a neuter noun.
Could I use deshalb instead of sodass here to mean "so we became homeless"?
You could, but it changes the word order. sodass is a subordinating conjunction meaning "so that" or "with the result that," which sends the conjugated verb sind to the very end of the clause. deshalb (therefore) is an adverb and would trigger standard V2 word order: ..., deshalb sind wir heimatlos geworden.
Why does the second clause use sind in geworden sind instead of haben?
The main verb of the second clause is werden (to become). Because werden describes a change of state or condition, it always builds its perfect tenses using the auxiliary verb sein (conjugated here as sind), never haben.
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