Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching German grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Gestern fehlten drei Teilnehmer wegen Krankheit.
Why is Gestern at the beginning of the sentence?
In German main clauses one element usually precedes the finite verb. Placing Gestern (an adverb of time) in the “first field” sets the time frame right away. The verb fehlten then occupies the required second position.
Why does the verb fehlten come immediately after Gestern?
German word order in a main clause demands the finite verb in the second position. When you put Gestern first, fehlten must follow directly, even though English would allow “Yesterday, three participants were absent” or “Three participants were absent yesterday.”
Why is fehlten in the simple past (Präteritum) rather than the present perfect (Perfekt)?
In written and formal German (reports, narratives, news) the Präteritum is often preferred to describe past events. Many speech-oriented verbs (like haben, sein, modal verbs and fehlen) also regularly use Präteritum in writing. In everyday conversation you might hear Perfekt (“Gestern haben drei Teilnehmer gefehlt”), but Präteritum is perfectly normal in a report-style sentence.
What exactly does fehlen mean here? Does it mean “to lack” or something else?
Here fehlen is an intransitive verb meaning “to be absent” or “to fail to show up.” So drei Teilnehmer fehlten literally means “three participants were missing/absent.” It is not the sense of “to miss someone/something” (that usage is jemandem fehlen).
How do I know that drei Teilnehmer is the subject (nominative) and not an object?
Because fehlten is a personal verb in the third-person plural form, it needs a plural subject. In German the subject appears in the nominative case, and here there is no accusative article or object marker. Also, the agreement fehl-ten matches drei Teilnehmer as the subject.
Why is it wegen Krankheit and not wegen der Krankheit or wegen einer Krankheit?
The preposition wegen normally governs the genitive case. The fully explicit form would be wegen der Krankheit (definite) or wegen einer Krankheit (indefinite). However, in everyday style it’s common to drop the article and say wegen + noun directly (an elliptical genitive). All three are understood to mean “because of illness.”
Could I replace wegen with aufgrund, and if so, what changes?
Yes. aufgrund also takes the genitive and is slightly more formal. You’d say „Gestern fehlten drei Teilnehmer aufgrund der Krankheit.“ It’s stylistically more written or official than wegen.
How would I express the same idea with a subordinate clause using weil?
You could say:
Gestern fehlten drei Teilnehmer, weil sie krank waren.
Here weil introduces a subordinate clause, so the verb waren goes to the end.
Can I use ausfallen instead of fehlen?
Yes. You could say in Präteritum:
Gestern fielen drei Teilnehmer wegen Krankheit aus.
Or in Perfekt:
Gestern sind drei Teilnehmer wegen Krankheit ausgefallen.
ausfallen is another common way to report someone didn’t show up.