Breakdown of Das Filmteam reist dieses Jahr durch ganz Europa.
das Jahr
the year
dieser
this / that (fem.: diese, neut.: dieses)
reisen
to travel
ganz
quite, completely; whole
Questions & Answers about Das Filmteam reist dieses Jahr durch ganz Europa.
Why is there no adjective ending on ganz? Shouldn't it be durch ganzes Europa?
This is exactly the exception your current lesson covers! When the adjectives ganz (whole/all) and halb (half) are used directly before a geographical name that doesn't have an article (like Europa, Deutschland, or Berlin), they do not take any declension endings.
If the country had an article, would ganz then get an ending?
Yes! If the geographical name requires a definite article (like die Schweiz or die USA), then ganz takes the standard adjective endings. For example, "through all of Switzerland" would be durch die ganze Schweiz, because durch forces the accusative case and the article is present.
Why is dieses Jahr used here without a preposition like "in"?
In German, specific, definite time phrases (like "this year", "every day", or "next month") are typically expressed using the accusative case without any preposition. Because Jahr is a neuter noun, "this year" translates simply to the accusative phrase dieses Jahr.
Could I say durch ganz Europa dieses Jahr instead?
It would be understood, but it sounds unnatural. German heavily prefers the "Time, Manner, Place" (TMP) word order. The time expression (dieses Jahr) should almost always come before the place or direction expression (durch ganz Europa).