Questions & Answers about Wir erhielten gestern endlich die Erlaubnis, unser Projekt zu erweitern, und das Team feierte.
German often uses the simple past (Präteritum) in written narratives or formal reports.
- erhielten is the Präteritum form of erhalten.
- In conversation you might hear haben erhalten (Perfekt), but in writing or storytelling it’s common to stick with Präteritum for consistency.
Both words are adverbials, but they serve different roles:
- gestern is a time-adverb (when?).
- endlich is a modal particle/adverb of mood, expressing relief (“at last”).
Word-order rule for adverbs in German main clauses:- Time (gestern)
- Manner or modal particles (endlich)
- Place
Hence gestern precedes endlich.
That phrase is an extended infinitive clause introduced by the noun Erlaubnis. German punctuation rules require commas to mark off such clauses.
- The comma after Erlaubnis opens the infinitive clause.
- The comma after erweitern closes it (it just happens to sit right before und).
Without these commas the sentence would be ungrammatical.
After certain nouns (like Erlaubnis, Versuch, Möglichkeit), German often uses a noun + comma + zu-infinitive to indicate what action is permitted, attempted, possible, etc.
Alternative: You can replace it with a nominalized phrase + preposition for a more formal style:
- Wir erhielten gestern endlich die Erlaubnis zur Erweiterung unseres Projekts.
Both mean the same, but the zu-infinitive sounds more dynamic/colloquial.
- die Erlaubnis is the direct object (Akkusativ) of erhielten.
- Inside the infinitive clause, unser Projekt is the direct object (Akkusativ) of erweitern.
German transitive verbs always take their objects in the accusative case.
Yes, tenses are kept consistent within the sentence/story: both verbs (erhielten and feierte) appear in Präteritum.
Switching one clause to Perfekt would break that narrative flow. In spoken German you could say hat gefeiert, but in written form it’s stylistically smoother to keep Präteritum.
- und is a coordinating conjunction. It does not send the verb to the end.
- Coordinators (und, aber, oder) link two main clauses without changing word order:
- Subjekt – Verb – …
- Und Subjekt – Verb – …
Only subordinating conjunctions (weil, dass, obwohl etc.) trigger inversion/verb-final.
Yes. In German feiern can be used intransitively to mean “to celebrate, have a party.”
You could add an object (die Party or seinen Erfolg), but it isn’t required. Here das Team feierte implies “the team celebrated (this good news).”