Questions & Answers about Bitte antworte mir später.
Why is it antworte and not antworten or antwortest?
Because this is the imperative for addressing one person with du. The present-tense form is du antwortest; to form the du-imperative you drop -st and the pronoun, giving antworte!. With stems ending in -t (like antwort-), German keeps the final -e for ease of pronunciation. So:
- du antwortest → Imperative: Antworte!
- Compare: du arbeitest → Arbeite! Don’t confuse the imperative antworte with the noun Antwort (meaning “answer”).
Why is it mir and not mich?
Because antworten governs the dative for the person: jemandem antworten. So it’s mir (to me), not mich (which is accusative). Examples:
- Antwortest du mir? = Are you answering me?
- Ich antworte dir später. = I’ll answer you later.
How would I say this formally?