Breakdown of Viele Autos fahren im Kreisverkehr.
in
in
dem
the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
das Auto
the car
fahren
to drive
viel
many
der Kreisverkehr
the roundabout
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Questions & Answers about Viele Autos fahren im Kreisverkehr.
Why is there no article before Autos? Why isn't it die Autos?
In German, words like viele (many) are quantifier determiners; they occupy the same slot that an article would. So when you say viele Autos, you don’t add another article like die.
Why is the verb fahren in this form? Why isn’t it fährt?
The subject viele Autos is plural, so the verb must be conjugated in the third person plural form, which is fahren. Fährt is third person singular.
Why is the verb placed immediately after viele Autos? Shouldn’t it be at the end of the sentence?
German main clauses follow the V2 (verb-second) word order: the finite verb appears in the second position. Here, viele Autos is first, so the verb fahren comes second.
What case is used with im Kreisverkehr, and why?
The preposition in can govern either dative or accusative, depending on whether you express location (dative) or direction/motion (accusative). Since im Kreisverkehr describes where the cars are driving (location), Kreisverkehr takes the dative case: in dem Kreisverkehr → im Kreisverkehr.
Why do we use im instead of in dem?
Im is simply the contracted form of in dem, which is very common in German for the masculine dative.
Why is Kreisverkehr singular here? Wouldn’t there be multiple roundabouts?
In this sentence, Kreisverkehr refers to the general concept or a particular roundabout, treated as a single location. If you wanted to refer to several roundabouts, you’d say in den Kreisverkehren or beyond to indicate multiple.
Why is Viele capitalized? I thought adjectives were lowercase.
Viele is an adjective here, so normally it’s lowercase. However, as the first word of a sentence, German orthography requires capitalizing it, just like any other word that starts a sentence.
Can I say Viele Autos fahren in den Kreisverkehr instead? What’s the difference?
Yes, you can. In den Kreisverkehr uses the accusative, implying motion into the roundabout (“drive into the roundabout”), whereas im Kreisverkehr (dative) emphasizes being inside and circulating within it (“driving around in the roundabout”).