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Breakdown of Der Start des Motors gelingt nur, wenn die Batterie ausreichend geladen ist.
sein
to be
wenn
if
nur
only
die Batterie
the battery
der Start
the start
der Motor
the motor
gelingen
to succeed
ausreichend
sufficiently
geladen
charged
Questions & Answers about Der Start des Motors gelingt nur, wenn die Batterie ausreichend geladen ist.
Why is des Motors used here instead of der Motor?
des Motors is the genitive case, which in German expresses possession or a relationship between two nouns. In this sentence, it tells us whose start we’re talking about: “the start of the engine.” In English we’d say “the engine’s start” or more naturally “the start of the engine.”
Why is Start capitalized?
In German, all nouns are capitalized regardless of where they appear in a sentence. Start is a noun (a nominalized English loanword), so it must begin with a capital letter.
What does gelingt mean, and why is it used here instead of funktioniert or startet?
gelingen means “to succeed.” So Der Start … gelingt literally means “The start succeeds.” It emphasizes the success or failure of starting the engine.
By contrast:
- Der Motor startet means “the engine starts” (neutral statement).
- Der Start funktioniert is less common, because funktionieren means “to function,” not specifically “to start.”
Why is the verb gelingt in the third-person singular?
Because the grammatical subject of the main clause is Der Start des Motors, which is singular and third-person. In German you always conjugate the verb to match the subject.
Why does the clause wenn die Batterie ausreichend geladen ist appear at the end of the sentence?
In German subordinate clauses introduced by conjunctions like wenn (if/when), the finite verb goes to the very end. That’s why ist appears after geladen in … wenn die Batterie ausreichend geladen ist.
What role does ausreichend play here, and why doesn’t it have an ending?
Here ausreichend is an adverb modifying the participle geladen (“charged”). Adverbs in German are not declined, so ausreichend stays in its basic form. If it were an adjective directly describing a noun (e.g., eine ausreichend große Batterie), it would take an ending.
Why is geladen a past participle, and what does ist geladen express?
geladen is the past participle of laden (“to charge”). When you combine it with a form of sein (here ist), you get the stative passive (Zustandspassiv), expressing a state or condition: “is charged.” So die Batterie ausreichend geladen ist means the battery is in a sufficiently charged state.
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“How do German cases work?”
German has four grammatical cases: nominative (subject), accusative (direct object), dative (indirect object), and genitive (possession). The case determines the form of articles and adjectives. For example, "the dog" is "der Hund" as a subject but "den Hund" as a direct object.
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