Word
Wir sind gestern in ein Café gegangen und haben danach einen Film im Kino gesehen.
Meaning
We went to a café yesterday and then watched a film at the cinema.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
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Questions & Answers about Wir sind gestern in ein Café gegangen und haben danach einen Film im Kino gesehen.
Why is the perfect tense of gehen formed with sind instead of haben?
In German, verbs that denote movement or a change of state typically take sein as the auxiliary in the perfect tense. Since gehen (to go) describes physical movement from one place to another, it forms the perfect tense as sind gegangen rather than using haben.
Why are there two different auxiliary verbs in the sentence?
Each main verb in the perfect tense selects its auxiliary based on its type. The verb gehen is a movement verb and thus uses sein, while sehen (to see) does not indicate movement and therefore uses haben. Although both clauses are in the perfect tense, the auxiliaries differ because of the inherent properties of each verb.
Why is in ein Café in the accusative case rather than the dative?
When expressing motion toward a destination, the preposition in requires the accusative case. In the phrase in ein Café, the focus is on going into a café—a destination—so ein Café is in the accusative. In contrast, if the sentence were describing a static location (being inside a café), the dative case would be used.
What does the adverb danach mean, and why is it placed where it is?
Danach means "afterwards" or "after that." It indicates that the action of watching the film occurred subsequent to the visit to the café. Its placement between the auxiliary haben and the rest of the clause helps clearly mark the sequence of events in the sentence.
Why is gestern placed after the subject rather than at the beginning of the sentence?
In German, time adverbs like gestern (yesterday) are often positioned in the middle of the sentence, following the subject and the conjugated verb, especially in spoken language. This placement maintains a natural flow, although time adverbs can sometimes appear at the beginning if additional emphasis is desired.
Why is the Perfekt tense used in this sentence instead of the simple past (Präteritum)?
In modern spoken German, the Perfekt tense is commonly used to describe past events because it tends to sound more natural and conversational. The simple past (Präteritum) is mostly found in written narratives or formal contexts. Thus, using sind gegangen and haben gesehen aligns with everyday spoken usage.
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