Breakdown of Ich suche Max' Trikot, weil wir gleich ein Spiel haben.
ich
I
ein
a, an (eine)
haben
to have
wir
we
suchen
to look for
gleich
almost / soon (in a moment)
das Spiel
the game/match
weil
because (subordinating)
Max
Max
das Trikot
the jersey
Questions & Answers about Ich suche Max' Trikot, weil wir gleich ein Spiel haben.
Why does Max' have an apostrophe instead of an -s at the end?
To form the genitive (possessive) of most names in German, you simply add an -s with no apostrophe (like Annas Trikot). However, if a name already ends in an s-sound (like -s, -ß, -x, or -z), you cannot add another -s. Instead, you just add an apostrophe. Since Max ends in an -x, it becomes Max'.
The English translation says "looking for", but where is the word for "for" in the German sentence?
The German verb suchen means "to look for" or "to seek" all by itself. It takes a direct object in the accusative case, so you don't need a preposition. Saying Ich suche für... is a very common mistake for English speakers to make, but it is completely incorrect!
Doesn't gleich usually mean "equal" or "same"?
It can, but as an adverb of time, gleich is very frequently used to mean "shortly", "in a moment", or "soon". For example, Bis gleich! means "See you in a minute!" In this sentence, it shows that the game is about to start.
Why is haben at the very end of the sentence?
The word weil (because) is a subordinating conjunction. This means it introduces a dependent clause and forces the conjugated verb (in this case, haben) to move all the way to the end of that clause.
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