Die Maus bewegt sich schnell.

The mouse moves quickly.

Breakdown of Die Maus bewegt sich schnell.

• schnell: quickly
• die Maus: the mouse
• sich bewegen: to move

Questions & Answers about Die Maus bewegt sich schnell.

Why is the article die used for Maus?

Because Maus is a feminine noun in German. In the singular nominative case (as the subject of the sentence), feminine nouns take the definite article die.

What case is die Maus in, and how do we know?

Die Maus is in the nominative case. You can tell because it is the subject performing the action (it’s the thing doing the moving). In German, subjects are in the nominative.

Why is the verb bewegt and not bewege, bewegtet, etc.?

The base verb is bewegen. For third person singular (er/sie/es), you conjugate it to bewegt. Here die Maus corresponds to “sie” (third person singular), so you use bewegt.

What is the role of sich, and is bewegen always reflexive?

In this sentence, sich is the reflexive pronoun referring back to the subject (die Maus). Sich bewegen means “to move oneself” (i.e., “to move”). Bewegen can be used transitively (e.g., Ich bewege den Stuhl – “I move the chair”) or reflexively (Ich bewege mich – “I move myself”).

Why does sich come immediately after bewegt instead of later in the sentence?

In German main clauses, the finite verb is in position 2 and the reflexive pronoun usually follows immediately in position 3. Other elements like adverbs come after the reflexive pronoun. Hence:

1. Die Maus (position 1)
2. bewegt (position 2)
3. sich (position 3)
4. schnell (adverb)

Is schnell an adjective here? Why isn’t it inflected (no ending like -e, -en, etc.)?

Here schnell is an adverb modifying the verb bewegt (“moves quickly”). Adverbs in German are not inflected; they stay in their base form. If schnell were describing a noun (e.g., “a quick mouse”), it would be an adjective and would take an ending.

How would you say “The quick mouse moves” if you wanted “quick” to describe the mouse?

You’d use an attributive adjective with the correct ending for feminine nominative:
Die schnelle Maus bewegt sich.

Could you reorder the sentence to put schnell before sich, like Die Maus bewegt schnell sich?

No. Standard German word order puts the reflexive pronoun right after the conjugated verb, then adverbs. So Die Maus bewegt sich schnell is correct. Putting schnell before sich would break the typical verb‑pronoun‑adverb sequence.