Breakdown of Beeil dich, sonst verpassen wir den Start des Films.
Questions & Answers about Beeil dich, sonst verpassen wir den Start des Films.
To form the “du”-imperative of a reflexive verb in German:
- Start with the infinitive sich beeilen.
- Remove sich and the -en ending from the verb stem → beeil-.
- Drop the -st ending that you’d normally have in the present tense (“du beeilst”).
- Add the reflexive pronoun in the accusative (for “du” that’s dich).
Result: Beeil dich!
German is a V2 (verb-second) language. When you put an adverb like sonst at the very beginning of a main clause, the finite verb must come immediately after it, and the subject follows the verb:
• sonst (adverb) → verb (verpassen) → subject (wir) → object.
Hence “Sonst verpassen wir den Start des Films.”
• den Start – “Start” is a masculine noun (der Start), and it’s the direct object of verpassen, so it takes the accusative: den.
• des Films – “Film” is masculine (der Film), and you express “of the film” with the genitive case, so des Films.
You could also say “den Start vom Film” (using von + dative), but des Films (genitive) is slightly more formal.
Yes. Beginn (m) is a perfectly fine synonym, so you could say “Beeil dich, sonst verpassen wir den Beginn des Films.”
Nuance: Start can sound a bit more informal or anglicized, while Beginn is more traditional German.