Breakdown of Durch regelmäßige Wiederholung bleiben die neuen Wörter länger im Kopf.
Questions & Answers about Durch regelmäßige Wiederholung bleiben die neuen Wörter länger im Kopf.
Durch is a preposition that usually means through or by means of.
In this sentence, Durch regelmäßige Wiederholung means “through regular repetition / by repeating regularly”. It describes the means or method by which the words stay in your head.
Grammatically:
- durch always takes the accusative case.
- Wiederholung is a feminine noun (die Wiederholung). In the accusative singular feminine, the ending is the same as nominative: die Wiederholung.
- There’s no article here (no die), so we have a “zero article” (general statement).
- With no article, the adjective takes a strong ending: regelmäßige.
So:
- Preposition: durch (+ accusative)
- Case: accusative singular feminine
- Form: (durch) regelmäßige Wiederholung
German main clauses follow the V2 rule (verb in second position):
- The conjugated verb must be the second element in the sentence.
- “Element” means a whole chunk (phrase), not a single word.
In this sentence:
- Durch regelmäßige Wiederholung = first element (a prepositional phrase)
- bleiben = second element (finite verb)
- die neuen Wörter = subject (third element)
- länger im Kopf = rest of the predicate
So, even though the subject die neuen Wörter is not at the beginning, the verb bleiben is still in second position, which is correct German word order:
- Durch regelmäßige Wiederholung bleiben die neuen Wörter länger im Kopf.
- Compare with a subject-first version: Die neuen Wörter bleiben durch regelmäßige Wiederholung länger im Kopf. (same verb position: second)
Bleiben means to stay / to remain. Here it expresses continuation over time:
- bleiben … im Kopf = remain in your head, stay in your memory
If you said:
- … sind länger im Kopf, that sounds more like a simple state: “are in the head (for longer)” – grammatically OK, but less idiomatic in this context.
- … werden länger im Kopf, would suggest “become longer in the head”, which doesn’t fit the idea.
Using bleiben emphasizes that the words stay there for a longer time, which is exactly what is meant.
Die neuen Wörter is the subject of the sentence, so it’s in the nominative plural.
- Plural definite article in nominative: die
- Noun: Wörter (plural of das Wort)
With a definite article (die) in the plural, adjectives usually take the ending -en (weak declension):
- nominative plural with die → die neuen Wörter
So:
- Case: nominative plural
- Article: die
- Adjective ending: -en → neuen
That’s why it’s die neuen Wörter, not die neue Wörter.
German has two plural forms of das Wort:
Wörter – used for individual, countable words as vocabulary items.
- e.g. Ich kenne diese drei Wörter. – “I know these three words.”
Worte – used for connected words in a saying, a speech, a quotation, or a “set of words” as a whole.
- e.g. Seine letzten Worte waren … – “His last words were …”
In this sentence, we’re clearly talking about individual vocabulary items you want to remember, so Wörter is the correct plural:
- die neuen Wörter = “the new vocabulary items / the new words”
Im is just the contraction of in dem:
- in (preposition) + dem (dative masculine/neuter) → im
So im Kopf literally equals in dem Kopf.
This contraction is very common in spoken and written German, especially in fixed expressions:
- im Haus (in dem Haus) – in the house
- im Sommer (in dem Sommer) – in the summer
- im Kopf (in dem Kopf) – in the head / in one’s mind
Here, Kopf is masculine (der Kopf). With the preposition in meaning location (where something is), German uses the dative:
- masculine dative singular of der Kopf = dem Kopf → contracted to im Kopf
The preposition in can take either dative or accusative, depending on meaning:
- dative = location (where something is)
- accusative = direction/motion (where something is going)
In this sentence, the words are located in your head (they stay there):
- It’s about where they remain → location → dative.
So:
- Preposition: in (here: location) → dative
- Noun: der Kopf (masculine)
- Dative singular masculine: dem Kopf → contracted to im Kopf
Wiederholung is singular in this sentence:
- regelmäßige Wiederholung = “regular repetition” (an abstract, uncounted concept)
There is no article because we’re talking about repetition in general as a habit or method, not about one specific repetition:
- Durch regelmäßige Wiederholung = “Through (the process of) repeating regularly”
If you said:
- Durch die regelmäßige Wiederholung – this would sound more like you’re referring to some particular repetition that was mentioned before.
German often omits the article with abstract, uncountable, or general concepts:
durch Übung, mit Geduld, bei Arbeit (in some expressions), etc.
The adjective ending depends on two main things:
- Case, gender, number of the noun
- Whether there is a determiner (like a definite article) before it
In this sentence:
regelmäßige Wiederholung
- Preposition durch → accusative
- Wiederholung is feminine singular
- There is no article (die is omitted)
- With no article, adjectives take strong endings → regelmäßige
die neuen Wörter
- Subject → nominative plural
- There is a definite article: die
- With die (or der, das, etc.) in plural, adjectives take weak endings → neuen
So:
- regelmäßige Wiederholung = accusative singular feminine, no article → -e
- die neuen Wörter = nominative plural with die → -en
Yes, you can move that phrase without changing the basic meaning. Possible variants:
- Die neuen Wörter bleiben durch regelmäßige Wiederholung länger im Kopf.
- Die neuen Wörter bleiben länger durch regelmäßige Wiederholung im Kopf. (less natural, but understandable)
What changes is mainly:
- Emphasis and style, not the core meaning.
Putting Durch regelmäßige Wiederholung first:
- Durch regelmäßige Wiederholung bleiben die neuen Wörter länger im Kopf.
highlights the method (“through regular repetition”) as the most important information. That’s a common stylistic choice in German when you want to emphasize cause, time, or manner.