Breakdown of Wir müssen den Camper isolieren, weil es nachts sehr kalt ist.
sein
to be
es
it
sehr
very
wir
we
kalt
cold
müssen
to have to, must
weil
because (subordinating)
nachts
at night
der Camper
the campervan
isolieren
to insulate
Questions & Answers about Wir müssen den Camper isolieren, weil es nachts sehr kalt ist.
Does isolieren mean 'isolate' or 'insulate' here?
It means both! In the context of a vehicle or house, isolieren means 'to insulate' against temperature or sound. When talking about people or situations, it means 'to isolate'.
Why is there an 's' at the end of nachts?
Adding an -s to a time of day creates an adverb meaning 'at that time' or 'routinely at that time'. So the noun die Nacht (the night) becomes the adverb nachts (at night). You also see this with morgens (in the mornings) and abends (in the evenings).
This lesson focuses on adverbial connectors. How does the word order of the weil clause compare to them?
The word weil is a subordinating conjunction, which kicks the conjugated verb (ist) to the very end of the clause. In contrast, adverbial connectors (like dafür or dabei) are treated as regular adverbs. If they start an independent clause, they take Position 1, and the conjugated verb stays in Position 2.
How could we rewrite this sentence to use an independent clause connector?
You would separate the ideas into two main clauses and use a cause-and-effect adverbial connector like deswegen (therefore). For example: Es ist nachts sehr kalt, deswegen müssen wir den Camper isolieren. Notice how deswegen takes Position 1 in the second clause, followed immediately by the verb müssen in Position 2.
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