Word
Ohne Licht auf der Straße finde ich den Weg nur schwer.
Meaning
Without light on the street I can hardly find the way.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Ohne Licht auf der Straße finde ich den Weg nur schwer.
ich
I
finden
to find
die Straße
the street
auf
on
Questions & Answers about Ohne Licht auf der Straße finde ich den Weg nur schwer.
Why is there no article before Licht?
In German you often leave out the article when talking about something in a general or uncountable sense. Here Licht means “light” in general (illumination), so no article is needed.
Why is auf der Straße used, and why is der in the dative case?
The preposition auf can take the dative when it indicates a location (“on the street”). Since Straße is feminine, the dative singular is der Straße. So auf der Straße literally means “on the street.”
Why is den Weg in the accusative case?
Weg is the direct object of finden. Because Weg is masculine (der Weg), its accusative form is den Weg.
How does the structure “finden + object + schwer” work?
In German you can say etwas schwer finden to express that you personally find something difficult. The pattern is: Subject + finden + Accusative Object + Adjective (or adverb). Here it’s ich finde den Weg (obj.) nur schwer (adv.).
What nuance does nur schwer add?