Breakdown of Kannst du mir sagen, ob die Pflanzen schon gegossen wurden?
du
you
können
can
schon
already
mir
me
ob
whether
sagen
to tell
die Pflanze
the plant
gegossen werden
to be watered
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Questions & Answers about Kannst du mir sagen, ob die Pflanzen schon gegossen wurden?
Why do we use ob instead of wenn or dass?
In German, ob introduces an indirect yes/no question (equivalent to English “if” or “whether”). Wenn is used for conditional or temporal “when/if,” and dass means “that.” Since you’re asking whether the plants have been watered, ob is correct.
Why is the verb wurden at the end of the subordinate clause, and why is the past participle gegossen placed before it?
In German subordinate clauses, the finite verb goes to the very end. When you have both an auxiliary (here wurden) and a past participle (gegossen), the non-finite element (gegossen) comes directly before the finite one (wurden), yielding gegossen wurden.
Why is die Pflanzen in the nominative case rather than accusative?
The sentence is in the passive voice. In passive, the active direct object becomes the subject of the passive sentence, and subjects take the nominative case in German. That’s why die Pflanzen appears in the nominative plural.
Why do we use wurden instead of a perfect passive like sind … gegossen worden?
Wurden is the simple past (Präteritum) form of werden, forming the Präteritum passive. German can express past actions with either Präteritum or Perfekt. Although spoken German often prefers Perfekt, using wurden gegossen is perfectly acceptable in both spoken and written contexts.
What would the active-voice equivalent of this sentence be?
An active version might be: Hat jemand die Pflanzen schon gegossen? (“Has someone already watered the plants?”) Or if you know who, Hast du die Pflanzen schon gegossen?
Why is there a comma before ob?
German punctuation requires a comma to separate a main clause from a subordinate clause. Since ob starts a subordinate clause here, you place a comma before it.
Where can schon be placed in this sentence, and what does it mean?
Schon means already. In subordinate clauses, it most naturally appears just before the verbal complex (ob die Pflanzen schon gegossen wurden). You could also say ob schon die Pflanzen gegossen wurden, but the original word order is more neutral.
Why is the verb gießen spelled with ß, but the past participle is gegossen with ss?
German spelling uses ß after long vowels or diphthongs (here the “ie” in gießen is long). In gegossen, the vowel “o” is short, so it’s spelled with ss.
Can we use the polite form instead of du?
Yes. In formal contexts, you would say: Können Sie mir sagen, ob die Pflanzen schon gegossen wurden? Here Sie (capitalized) is the formal “you,” and the verb changes to können.