Breakdown of Viele junge Leute denken zu spät an die Altersvorsorge.
die Leute
the people
viel
much / a lot
zu
too (e.g., too big)
spät
late
an
at, on (vertical) / to (addressee) / of (in quantity/stock expressions)
jung
young
denken
to think
die Altersvorsorge
the retirement provision
Questions & Answers about Viele junge Leute denken zu spät an die Altersvorsorge.
How would I change this sentence to use the Futur II (Future Perfect) we are learning in this lesson?
To express that this action will be completed by a certain point in the future (meaning "will have thought"), you use werden as the conjugated auxiliary verb in the second position, and move the past infinitive (gedacht haben) to the end of the sentence. It becomes: Viele junge Leute werden zu spät an die Altersvorsorge gedacht haben.
Why does the sentence use an instead of über for the English word "about"?
The verb denken (to think) specifically requires the preposition an when referring to keeping something in mind or briefly turning your thoughts to something. It is always followed by the accusative case, which is why we see an die Altersvorsorge. If you wanted to use über, you would need the separable verb nachdenken (to ponder or reflect deeply), making the sentence: Viele junge Leute denken zu spät über die Altersvorsorge nach.
Why is the adjective ending junge and not jungen?
The word viele (many) does not act like a definite article (such as die or diese), which would trigger the weak ending -en on the following adjective. Instead, it acts as an indefinite numeral, so both viele and junge take the strong nominative plural ending -e.
How is the compound noun Altersvorsorge put together?
It combines das Alter (age / old age) and die Vorsorge (precaution / provision). The -s- in the middle is a linking sound (often called a Fugen-s) used to connect certain nouns smoothly. As always in German, the gender of the entire compound is determined by the final word, making it die Altersvorsorge.
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