Breakdown of Während der Sommerferien kletterten wir jeden Morgen auf den alten Zaun, um weit ins Tal zu schauen.
wir
we
alt
old
schauen
to look
der Morgen
the morning
um
in order to
den
the; (masculine, accusative)
auf
onto
während
during
jeden
every; (masculine, accusative)
das Tal
the valley
weit
far
der Zaun
the fence
der
the; (plural, genitive)
die Sommerferien
the summer holidays
klettern
to climb
ins
into; (neuter, accusative)
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Questions & Answers about Während der Sommerferien kletterten wir jeden Morgen auf den alten Zaun, um weit ins Tal zu schauen.
Why is während der Sommerferien in the genitive case, and could we use a different case?
Während is one of the prepositions that grammatically requires the genitive. Sommerferien is always plural, so the genitive plural definite article is der, giving us während der Sommerferien. In colloquial or spoken German you might hear während den Ferien (dative), but that is non-standard in formal writing.
Why is kletterten (Präteritum) used instead of the perfect tense sind geklettert?
In written narratives or storytelling, German often uses the simple past (Präteritum). In everyday speech, you’d more likely say Wir sind jeden Morgen auf den alten Zaun geklettert (Perfekt), but for a descriptive sentence like this, Präteritum (kletterten) is perfectly natural.
Why does auf den alten Zaun use the accusative case with auf, instead of the dative?
Auf is a two-way (Wechsel-) preposition: it takes accusative when there’s movement toward something (direction) and dative when describing a static location. Here, “climbing onto the fence” is movement toward it, so we use accusative: den alten Zaun. If they had stayed on the fence without moving, it would be dative: auf dem alten Zaun.
Why does the adjective alten take an -en ending in den alten Zaun?
After a definite article in the accusative masculine, adjectives follow the weak declension and take -en. The article den already marks gender (masculine) and case (accusative), so the adjective ending is -en.
Why is the time expression jeden Morgen placed between wir and auf den alten Zaun?
German typically orders adverbials as Time–Manner–Place. Jeden Morgen (time) comes before the place adverbial auf den alten Zaun, which is why it appears directly after the subject wir.
What is the purpose of the clause um weit ins Tal zu schauen?
That’s a purpose clause using um + infinitive + zu. It answers “why” they climbed the fence: in order to look far into the valley.
Why is it ins Tal (in das Tal) rather than im Tal?
Here the gaze is directed into the valley (accusative), so we contract in das Tal to ins Tal. If you wanted to say “inside the valley” or “within the valley” (location), you’d use dative: im Tal (in dem Tal).
Could we replace schauen with sehen in um weit ins Tal zu schauen?
Both words relate to vision, but schauen emphasizes the act of looking or gazing, which fits “looking out over the valley.” Sehen focuses on the result of seeing. You could say um weit ins Tal zu sehen, but schauen is more idiomatic for “to look out.”