Während des Trainings untersuchte der Trainer unsere Technik genau.

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Breakdown of Während des Trainings untersuchte der Trainer unsere Technik genau.

• der Trainer: the coach
• während: during
• des: the; (masculine or neuter, genitive)

Questions & Answers about Während des Trainings untersuchte der Trainer unsere Technik genau.

Why is während used with the genitive case in während des Trainings, not the dative?

Während is one of a handful of prepositions in German that govern the genitive. When you use während to mean “during,” you must put the noun phrase in the genitive. Hence des Trainings (genitive singular of das Training) rather than dem Training (dative).

What’s the difference between saying während des Trainings and beim Training?

Beim is a contraction of bei dem and takes the dative. So beim Training (“at/during the training”) is a perfectly natural, slightly more colloquial alternative. Während des Trainings (genitive) is a bit more formal or written, but both mean roughly “while the training was going on.”

Why does the finite verb untersuchte come before the subject der Trainer?

German is a verb-second (V2) language. When an adverbial phrase like Während des Trainings opens the sentence, it counts as the first element. The finite verb must then occupy the second position, so untersuchte precedes the subject der Trainer.

Why is untersuchte in the simple past (Präteritum) instead of Perfekt?