Breakdown of Wir beginnen die Mediation beim Mediator.
wir
we
beim
at the (bei + dem)
beginnen
to begin (formal, more than anfangen)
die Mediation
the mediation
der Mediator
the mediator
Questions & Answers about Wir beginnen die Mediation beim Mediator.
Why is it die Mediation and not mit der Mediation after beginnen?
While you will often hear beginnen mit (to start with), beginnen can also take a direct accusative object. Using the accusative here (die Mediation) makes it a direct action, which sounds slightly more formal. Saying mit der Mediation would sound more like 'We are starting with the mediation (as the first step in a longer process).'
How does beim Mediator translate to 'at the mediator's'?
In German, to indicate you are at someone's house, office, or professional space, you use the preposition bei followed by the dative case. Here, beim is a mandatory contraction of bei dem. Just like being at the doctor's office is beim Arzt, being at the mediator's office is beim Mediator.
Where would an adverb like bekanntermaßen (as is well known) go in this sentence?
If you wanted to apply this lesson's grammar to this sentence, the adverb would typically sit right after the conjugated verb: Wir beginnen bekanntermaßen die Mediation beim Mediator. You could also place it at the very beginning for emphasis, which would invert the subject and verb: Bekanntermaßen beginnen wir die Mediation...
What if the mediator is female? How would the ending of the sentence change?
Like most professions in German, you create the feminine form by adding -in, making it die Mediatorin. Because the preposition bei always forces the dative case, the feminine article die changes to der, so the phrase becomes bei der Mediatorin.
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