Breakdown of Er hat sich den ganzen Abend komisch verhalten.
ganz
quite, completely; whole
der Abend
the evening
sich verhalten
to behave
komisch
funny, odd
Questions & Answers about Er hat sich den ganzen Abend komisch verhalten.
Why is it den ganzen Abend and not in the dative case?
Time expressions that describe a duration—answering the question 'for how long?'—take the accusative case in German. Because Abend is a masculine noun (der Abend), the phrase becomes den ganzen Abend.
I learned that komisch means 'funny' or 'comical'. Why is it translated as 'oddly' here?
In everyday German, komisch is very commonly used to mean 'strange', 'weird', or 'odd' rather than 'haha funny'. It works just like the English expression 'acting funny', which usually means someone is acting strangely, not telling jokes.
Could we use an adjective ending in -haft or -mäßig here instead of komisch?
Yes! To describe odd or difficult-to-understand behavior, you could use rätselhaft (mysterious) or sprunghaft (erratic). If you wanted to describe routine behavior instead, you could use an adjective with -mäßig like routinemäßig (routinely) or gewohnheitsmäßig (habitually).
Why do we need the word sich in this sentence?
The German verb for 'to behave' or 'to act' is sich verhalten. It is always reflexive in this context. Without the accusative pronoun sich, the sentence would be grammatically incomplete.
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