Breakdown of Die Maschine wurde erst gestern in Betrieb genommen.
gestern
yesterday
die Maschine
the machine (mechanical)
erst
only, not until; first
werden
to be (passive auxiliary + past participle)
in Betrieb nehmen
to put into operation
Questions & Answers about Die Maschine wurde erst gestern in Betrieb genommen.
What is the Nomen-Verb-Verbindung in this sentence and how does it work?
The construction is in Betrieb nehmen. It literally translates as to take into operation, but means to put into operation, to commission, or to start using. These constructions pair a preposition, a noun, and a support verb to express a single action, often sounding more formal or technical than a basic verb.
Could I just use a regular verb instead of the phrase in Betrieb nehmen?
You could use a simple verb like starten or einschalten, but in Betrieb nehmen is the standard, professional way to express the official first-time launch or commissioning of a machine, system, or facility. It is extremely common in technical German and business contexts.
Why is erst used here instead of nur to mean only?
When referring to time, erst means as recently as or not until. If you said nur gestern, it would mean the action happened exclusively yesterday and not on any other day. erst gestern emphasizes that the event happened very recently and not earlier.
Why does the sentence use wurde ... genommen instead of ist ... genommen worden?
This is the simple past (Präteritum) passive. While conversational German often uses the perfect passive (ist ... genommen worden), the Präteritum passive (wurde ... genommen) is strongly preferred in written German and formal contexts, such as reports about machinery or business operations.
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