Breakdown of Sooft wir nachts entlang des Geländes laufen, spüren wir Angst.
wir
we
die Angst
the fear
laufen
to walk / to run (steady pace, jog)
entlang
along
nachts
at night
spüren
to sense
sooft
whenever
das Gelände
the premises
Questions & Answers about Sooft wir nachts entlang des Geländes laufen, spüren wir Angst.
Wait, I thought entlang usually takes the accusative case. Why is it des Geländes here?
When entlang is placed after the noun, it acts as a postposition and takes the accusative case (e.g., das Gelände entlang). However, when it is placed before the noun, it acts as a regular preposition and requires the genitive case, which is why we see the genitive des Geländes here. In spoken German, you might also hear it with the dative case when placed before the noun.
Is sooft just a combination of so and oft?
Historically yes, but here it acts as a single subordinating conjunction meaning whenever or as often as. Because it introduces a subordinate clause, it forces the conjugated verb laufen to the very end of that clause.
Why is there an 's' on the end of nachts if the noun is feminine (die Nacht)?
Adding an 's' to a time word turns it into an adverb describing a habit or a recurring time, meaning at night in this case. Even though die Nacht is feminine and wouldn't normally take an 's' in the genitive case, it copied this ending from masculine words like der Tag (which becomes tags) to form this habitual adverb.
Why does the second half of the sentence start with the verb spüren instead of wir?
This is standard German word order. The entire subordinate clause (Sooft wir nachts entlang des Geländes laufen) occupies the first position in the main sentence. Since the main verb must always be in position two, spüren comes immediately after the comma, followed by its subject wir.
Learn Sooft wir nachts entlang des Geländes laufen, spüren wir Angst 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