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Questions & Answers about Ab morgen koche ich Suppe.
What does Ab mean in Ab morgen?
Ab is a preposition meaning “starting from” or “as of.” When you combine Ab with a time expression, it tells you the exact point in time when something will begin.
Why is Ab morgen at the beginning of the sentence?
Placing an adverbial time phrase like Ab morgen in first position adds emphasis to when something happens. In German it’s perfectly natural to start with a time expression. Because you’ve taken up first position, the finite verb must still occupy the second position (see V2 rule below).
Why is the verb koche before the subject ich?
German main clauses follow the verb-second (V2) rule: whatever is in first position (here Ab morgen) is followed immediately by the conjugated verb (koche). The subject (ich) then follows the verb.
Why is the present tense used instead of a future tense?
In German you often use the present tense to talk about near-future events. Ab morgen koche ich Suppe naturally conveys “I will start cooking soup tomorrow.” Technically you can use the future (with werden), but speakers usually prefer the simpler present here.
Why is the verb written as koche and not kochen?
Kochen is the infinitive (“to cook”). When you conjugate for ich (first-person singular), you drop the -en and add -e, giving koche.
Why isn’t there an article before Suppe?
When you talk about something in a generic or uncountable sense (like “soup” in general), German often omits the article. If you wanted to specify one particular soup you could say eine Suppe or die Suppe, but here it’s just “soup” as a general activity.
Why is Suppe capitalized?
All German nouns are capitalized. Even without an article, Suppe remains a noun and so it takes a capital letter.
Why is morgen lowercase, and what’s the difference between morgen and Morgen?
Here morgen is an adverb meaning “tomorrow,” and adverbs are not capitalized in German. Morgen with a capital M is the noun “morning.” They’re two different words:
- morgen (lowercase) = tomorrow (adv.)
- Morgen (capitalized) = morning (n.)
What’s the difference between Ab morgen koche ich Suppe and Morgen koche ich Suppe?
- Ab morgen… means “starting tomorrow (and continuing thereafter).”
- Morgen koche ich Suppe simply means “Tomorrow I will cook soup,” referring only to that one day.
How would you express the same idea using the future tense with werden?
You can say Ab morgen werde ich Suppe kochen. Here werde is the conjugated auxiliary in second position, and kochen (the infinitive) goes to the end. Both versions are correct; the present-tense form is just more colloquial.