Breakdown of Am Abend trägt dichter Nebel den Duft des Waldes bis in das Dorf.
in
in
der Abend
the evening
tragen
to carry
der Duft
the scent
an
at
das Dorf
the village
der Wald
the forest
der Nebel
the fog
bis
up to
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Questions & Answers about Am Abend trägt dichter Nebel den Duft des Waldes bis in das Dorf.
What is the function of Am Abend and how does it work grammatically?
Am Abend is a temporal adverbial phrase meaning in the evening. Grammatically, am is a contraction of an dem, and the preposition an takes the dative case when referring to time. So dem Abend (dative singular of der Abend) becomes am Abend.
Why is there no article before dichter Nebel?
When you describe something in a general or indefinite sense in German, you can omit the article. Here it refers to the unspecific phenomenon “dense fog.” Without an article, the adjective dichter takes a strong ending to mark gender, number, and case.
Why does dichter end with ‑er in dichter Nebel?
Because Nebel is masculine nominative singular and there’s no preceding article, the adjective uses the strong declension ending ‑er to signal masculine nominative singular.
Why is des Waldes in the genitive case, and why is it ‑es instead of just ‑s?
des Waldes is a genitive attribute modifying Duft, expressing possession (“the scent of the forest”). Monosyllabic masculine nouns like Wald normally take ‑es in the singular genitive (Wald → Waldes). Although des Walds is sometimes heard, standard German prefers des Waldes.
What case is den Duft, and why is it accusative?
den Duft is masculine singular accusative, because the verb tragen (to carry) is transitive and requires a direct object. Here den Duft (“the scent”) is what the fog carries.
Why is it bis in das Dorf instead of bis zum Dorf or bis ins Dorf?
When bis is combined with in to indicate movement into something, it takes the accusative: in das Dorf. You can contract in das to ins, so bis ins Dorf is equally correct and common. bis zum Dorf (using zu + dative) would mean “up to/near the village,” not “into” it.
Why is trägt placed immediately after Am Abend, before the subject?
German main clauses follow the verb‑second (V2) rule: the finite verb must occupy the second position. If Am Abend is in the first slot, trägt moves into the second slot, and the subject (dichter Nebel) comes third.
How do we know trägt here means “carries” and not “wears”?
The verb tragen can mean both “to wear” and “to carry.” Context decides: fog can’t wear a scent but it can carry one. The structure trägt den Duft clearly indicates that the fog is transporting the scent, so it’s translated as “carries.”