Breakdown of Wir tauschen im Büro Informationen aus.
in
in
dem
the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
wir
we
das Büro
the office
die Information
the information
austauschen
to exchange
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Questions & Answers about Wir tauschen im Büro Informationen aus.
What kind of verb is austauschen, and why does it split into tauschen and aus in this sentence?
austauschen is a separable-prefix verb. In main clauses, the prefix aus detaches from the base verb tauschen and moves to the end, yielding Wir tauschen … aus.
Why is im Büro placed before Informationen? Could I also say Wir tauschen Informationen im Büro aus?
German word order is flexible. You can front an adverbial phrase like im Büro for emphasis or style. Both Wir tauschen im Büro Informationen aus and Wir tauschen Informationen im Büro aus are grammatically correct; only the slight emphasis shifts.
What case is used for im Büro, and why?
The preposition in takes the dative case when indicating a static location. in dem contracts to im, so im Büro is dative (“in the office”).
Why is Informationen in the accusative case, and why is there no article before it?
Informationen is the direct object of tauschen, so it uses the accusative plural. German often omits the plural article when referring to things in general or an indefinite amount.
What exactly does im stand for, and how is it formed?
im is a contraction of in dem (in + the, masculine/neuter dative). Thus im Büro literally means in the office.
How would you put this sentence into the past tense?
In spoken German you’d use the present perfect:
Wir haben im Büro Informationen ausgetauscht.
Here haben is the auxiliary and ausgetauscht is the past participle. In written or formal German you might see the simple past:
Wir tauschten im Büro Informationen aus.