Meine Schwester übernimmt die Verantwortung, wenn ich krank bin.

My sister takes over the responsibility when I am ill.

Breakdown of Meine Schwester übernimmt die Verantwortung, wenn ich krank bin.

• sein: to be
• ich: I
• mein: my
• die Schwester: the sister
• krank: sick
• wenn: when
• übernehmen: to take over
• die Verantwortung: the responsibility

Questions & Answers about Meine Schwester übernimmt die Verantwortung, wenn ich krank bin.

What role does meine Schwester play in the sentence, and why is it meine and not meiner or meinem?

Meine Schwester is the subject of the sentence – the person doing the action of taking over responsibility.

• The base noun is Schwester (sister), which is feminine.
• In nominative singular (the case for the subject), the possessive mein- takes the ending -e for feminine nouns:
  
  • masculine nominative: mein Bruder
  • feminine nominative: meine Schwester
  • neuter nominative: mein Kind

Meiner and meinem are other case/genre forms of mein (e.g. dative, genitive), but here we need feminine nominative → meine.

Why is the verb übernimmt and not nimmt or nimmt über?

The verb in this sentence is übernehmen, which means to take over, to assume (e.g. responsibility, tasks, a company).

• übernehmen is a verb with an inseparable prefix (über- is unstressed here).
• With inseparable prefixes, the verb does not split:
  • ich übernehme
  • du übernimmst
  • er/sie/es übernimmt
• So you never say nimmt … über in this meaning.

nehmen alone just means to take; übernehmen die Verantwortung is the standard way to say to take over / assume responsibility.

What does übernimmt die Verantwortung mean exactly? Is it like “has responsibility” or something else?

Übernimmt die Verantwortung literally means takes over the responsibility or assumes responsibility.

Nuances:

• die Verantwortung übernehmen – to take (on) responsibility, to assume it (often at a specific moment or in reaction to a situation).
• die Verantwortung haben – to have responsibility (more static, describes an existing state).
• verantwortlich sein (für …) – to be responsible (for …).

In this sentence, übernimmt suggests that when the speaker gets sick, the sister steps in and takes over responsibility that the speaker normally has.

What case is die Verantwortung, and why is it die?

Die Verantwortung is the direct object of the verb übernimmt, so it is in the accusative case.

• The noun Verantwortung is feminine.
• Feminine nouns have the article die in both nominative and accusative singular, so the form looks the same:
  • nominative: die Verantwortung (as a subject)
  • accusative: die Verantwortung (as an object)

Here it is accusative because something is being taken: (sie) übernimmt die Verantwortung.

Why is there a comma before wenn?

In German, wenn introduces a subordinate clause (a dependent clause). Subordinate clauses are separated from the main clause by a comma.

• Main clause: Meine Schwester übernimmt die Verantwortung
• Subordinate clause: wenn ich krank bin

German grammar requires a comma before most subordinate clauses, unlike English, where the comma is sometimes optional.

Why is the verb at the end of wenn ich krank bin? Why not wenn ich bin krank?

In German subordinate clauses (like those introduced by wenn), the conjugated verb goes to the end of the clause.

Pattern:

• wenn
  • subject + other elements + verb (conjugated) at the end

So:

• wenn ich krank bin (correct)
• wenn ich bin krank (wrong)

Here, bin is the conjugated verb (from sein), so it must be at the end of the subordinate clause.

What is the difference between wenn, wann, and als for “when”? Why is wenn used here?

All three can relate to time, but they’re used differently:

• wenn

  • used for repeated or general situations in the present, past, or future
  • roughly: whenever / when(ever)
  • Example: Wenn ich krank bin, übernimmt meine Schwester die Verantwortung.
    → Whenever / when I’m ill, my sister takes over the responsibility.

• wann

  • used for questions about time, or indirect questions
  • Example: Wann kommt sie? – When is she coming?
  • Example: Ich weiß nicht, wann sie kommt. – I don’t know when she is coming.

• als

  • used for single events in the past
  • Example: Als ich gestern krank war, hat meine Schwester die Verantwortung übernommen.
    → When I was ill yesterday, my sister took over the responsibility.

In your sentence, we have a general condition (“whenever I am sick”), so wenn is correct.

Why is the present tense (übernimmt, bin) used even though this can refer to future situations?

German often uses the present tense where English would use present or future, especially for:

• habits or general rules:
  Wenn ich krank bin, trinke ich Tee.
• future events that are clear:
  Morgen gehe ich zum Arzt. – I’m going to the doctor tomorrow.

Your sentence describes what usually happens whenever you are sick, so the present tense is natural and covers that general/future meaning.

Can I move the wenn-clause to the beginning of the sentence? What changes in word order?

Yes, you can put the wenn-clause at the beginning; this is very common in German:

• Wenn ich krank bin, übernimmt meine Schwester die Verantwortung.

When a subordinate clause like this comes first, it occupies the first “slot” of the sentence. The main clause verb must then come directly after the comma, so it stays in second position overall:

• Wenn ich krank bin, übernimmt meine Schwester die Verantwortung.
  (Subordinate clause) (main verb second)

You cannot say: Wenn ich krank bin, meine Schwester übernimmt die Verantwortung. – that would be wrong, because the finite verb übernimmt must be the first element of the main clause after the comma.

In wenn ich krank bin, why is it krank bin and not bin krank if the verb goes at the end?

In subordinate clauses, the conjugated verb goes to the end, but the elements that belong to the predicate (like adjectives) can stand before it:

• krank is a predicative adjective (a description linked to ich by the verb sein).
• The standard order is: subject – predicate part – verb in subordinate clauses:
  • wenn ich krank bin
  • weil er müde ist
  • dass sie glücklich ist

So krank bin is the natural order; bin krank in a subordinate clause would be unusual/wrong.

Why is krank without an ending (not kranke)?

Krank here is a predicative adjective (used with sein to describe the subject). In German:

• Predicative adjectives (after sein, werden, bleiben etc.) do not take endings:

  • Ich bin müde.
  • Sie ist krank.
  • Wir sind glücklich.

• Attributive adjectives (directly before a noun) do take endings:

  • ein kranker Mann
  • die kranke Schwester
  • meine kranke Schwester

Since krank describes ich via bin, it is predicative → no ending.

Is Verantwortung countable? Why do we say die Verantwortung and not just Verantwortung?

Verantwortung is usually treated as an uncountable noun in German (like responsibility in English), but it often appears with the definite article die in set expressions:

• die Verantwortung übernehmen – to take (on) the responsibility
• die Verantwortung tragen – to bear the responsibility
• die Verantwortung haben – to have responsibility

You can sometimes see Verantwortung übernehmen without the article, but die Verantwortung übernehmen is the most idiomatic standard phrase in this context.

How would the sentence change if I talked about more than one sister, e.g. “My sisters take over the responsibility when I am ill”?

You would need to change the subject to plural and adjust the verb form:

• Meine Schwestern übernehmen die Verantwortung, wenn ich krank bin.

Changes:

• Schwester → Schwestern (plural)
• The possessive stays meine in nominative plural: meine Schwestern
• Verb: übernehmen (3rd person plural) instead of übernimmt (3rd person singular)
  
  • singular: meine Schwester übernimmt
  • plural: meine Schwestern übernehmen

The rest of the sentence stays the same.