Breakdown of Nach drei Gläsern war er ziemlich betrunken.
sein
to be
drei
three
das Glas
the glass
nach
after (in time)
ziemlich
fairly, rather
betrunken
drunk
Questions & Answers about Nach drei Gläsern war er ziemlich betrunken.
Why is the word Gläsern used here instead of the standard plural Gläser?
The preposition nach always requires the dative case. The standard plural of das Glas is die Gläser, but in the dative plural, German nouns almost always add an extra -n to the end. That makes it Gläsern.
Why doesn't the number drei have a dative case ending?
Cardinal numbers like drei generally do not take case endings. Because there is no article like den before the number to show the case, the noun itself carries the grammatical weight by taking that dative plural -n ending.
Why is the word order war er instead of er war?
This sentence follows the V2 (verb-second) rule. The entire prepositional phrase Nach drei Gläsern occupies the first position in the sentence. The conjugated verb war must come in the second position, which pushes the subject er to the third position.
Is betrunken functioning as a verb or an adjective here?
Here it functions as an adjective describing his state (drunk). It originates from the past participle of the reflexive verb sich betrinken (to get drunk). When paired with the verb sein (like war in this sentence), it describes a condition rather than an ongoing action.
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