Ich werfe alte Bücher nicht weg.

I do not throw away old books.

Breakdown of Ich werfe alte Bücher nicht weg.

• ich: I
• nicht: not
• das Buch: the book
• alt: old
• wegwerfen: to throw away

Questions & Answers about Ich werfe alte Bücher nicht weg.

What is the separable verb in the sentence Ich werfe alte Bücher nicht weg, and why does it split?

The separable verb is wegwerfen (to throw away). In the present tense, German separable verbs detach their prefix and place it at the end. So the stem werf- is conjugated for ich as werfe, and the prefix weg moves to the sentence-final position.

Why is nicht placed before weg rather than in another position?

In German, nicht usually appears immediately before the element it negates. Here you’re negating the action of throwing away (the prefix weg), so nicht comes just in front of weg at the end of the clause.

What case is alte Bücher, and why is there no article before it?

alte Bücher is the direct object of werfe, so it’s in the accusative plural. There’s no article because you’re talking about old books in general (an indefinite or generic reference). German often omits the article with plural nouns in such contexts, known as the zero-article construction.

Why is the adjective alte marked with -e rather than -en or -er?

With a zero article and a plural noun in the accusative case, adjectives follow the strong declension pattern, which assigns an -e ending in both nominative and accusative plural. Hence alte Bücher.

Why does ich come first and werfe immediately after it? What word order rule is at work?

German main clauses obey the verb-second (V2) rule. The finite verb must occupy the second position in the clause. Because ich is the first element (the subject), werfe must follow as the second element, and the remaining parts of the sentence come after.

How is werfen conjugated for other persons in the present tense?

werfen is a strong (irregular) verb with a vowel change (e→i) in the 2nd and 3rd person singular. The present-tense forms are:
• ich werfe
• du wirfst
• er/sie/es wirft
• wir werfen
• ihr werft
• sie/Sie werfen

How would you express this sentence in the perfect tense or in a subordinate clause, and what happens to the separable prefix?

– Perfect tense: use haben + past participle. The separable prefix and ge- combine before the stem:
Ich habe alte Bücher nicht weggeworfen.
– Subordinate clause (present): the finite verb goes to the end, and the separable verb still splits:
… weil ich alte Bücher nicht wegwerfe.
– Subordinate clause (perfect): the entire past participle precedes habe at the very end:
… weil ich alte Bücher nicht weggeworfen habe.