Breakdown of Seitdem mein Bruder im Ausland lebt, vermisse ich unsere langen Gespräche.
Questions & Answers about Seitdem mein Bruder im Ausland lebt, vermisse ich unsere langen Gespräche.
Because seitdem introduces a subordinate clause.
In German subordinate clauses, the conjugated verb goes to the end of the clause.
Structure:
- Seitdem (subordinating conjunction)
- mein Bruder im Ausland (subject + other elements)
- lebt (verb at the end)
So: Seitdem mein Bruder im Ausland lebt is a full subordinate clause, and lebt must stand at the end.
In a main clause, German word order follows the V2-rule: the conjugated verb must be in second position.
Here, the entire subordinate clause Seitdem mein Bruder im Ausland lebt counts as position 1.
That means the verb of the main clause (vermisse) must come next, in position 2. The subject (ich) then comes after the verb.
So:
- 1: Seitdem mein Bruder im Ausland lebt,
- 2: vermisse
- 3: ich unsere langen Gespräche.
If you removed the first clause, you would say Ich vermisse unsere langen Gespräche, because then ich would be in first position.
With seit / seitdem, German usually uses the present tense to say that something started in the past and still continues into the present.
- Seitdem mein Bruder im Ausland lebt = he moved abroad at some point in the past and he still lives there now.
In English this often becomes a present perfect:
- Since my brother has been living abroad…
Using a past tense like gelebt hat would sound wrong here, because it would suggest that he no longer lives abroad.
Both seit and seitdem can introduce a time clause meaning “since (the time when) …”.
- Seitdem mein Bruder im Ausland lebt, … – very common and clear.
- Seit mein Bruder im Ausland lebt, … – also possible in modern German and often used in speech.
Nuances:
- seitdem is only a conjunction (or an adverb in other contexts). In this sentence it clearly marks a time clause.
- seit can be a preposition (seit drei Jahren – since three years) or a conjunction (seit er im Ausland lebt – since he has been living abroad).
Both versions are grammatically fine in this sentence.
Because German always separates clauses with a comma when a subordinate clause and a main clause are involved.
- Seitdem mein Bruder im Ausland lebt, → subordinate clause
- vermisse ich unsere langen Gespräche. → main clause
Subordinate + main clause = comma required in German spelling rules.
(Unlike English, where you sometimes can drop the comma, in German you cannot here.)
im is the contraction of in dem.
- in (preposition) + dem (dative article, neuter singular) → im
Ausland is a neuter noun (das Ausland), and with in in a static, “where?” sense, you use the dative:
- im Ausland = in the foreign country / abroad
You cannot say in Ausland; you must use the article, and in practice it’s almost always contracted to im Ausland.
In German, all nouns are capitalized.
Ausland is a noun meaning roughly foreign countries / abroad.
Even though in English abroad is an adverb, in German this concept is expressed as a noun (das Ausland), so it must be written with a capital A.
unsere langen Gespräche is in the accusative plural.
Reason:
- The verb vermissen (to miss, to long for someone/something) takes a direct object in the accusative.
- Wer vermisst was?
- ich (subject, nominative)
- unsere langen Gespräche (direct object, accusative)
In the plural, nominative and accusative often look the same in form, but functionally, here it is accusative.
Because unsere is a possessive determiner, and after a possessive determiner, adjectives take weak endings.
Pattern here:
- Possessive: unsere (already shows plural)
- Adjective: lang-
- weak plural ending -en → langen
- Noun: Gespräche
So:
- unsere langen Gespräche (plural, accusative → weak ending -en)
If there were no determiner (no article / no unsere), you would say:
- lange Gespräche (then lange would carry a different ending, because it would be the only determiner).
The singular is das Gespräch (the conversation).
Plural:
- das Gespräch → die Gespräche
Two things happen:
- The vowel changes: e → ä (Umlaut), which is common in many German plurals.
- The ending -e is added.
So the full plural form is Gespräche.
Whenever you see ä in a plural, it is usually this umlaut plural pattern.
You can say both, but they have slightly different feels:
- lebt im Ausland focuses on the fact that he is living his life there, he resides abroad.
- ist im Ausland just says that he is currently located abroad (could be more temporary, like on a trip or for work).
In the given sentence, lebt im Ausland suggests a more permanent situation (he moved there to live).
If he were only on a business trip, seitdem mein Bruder im Ausland ist would be more natural.
Yes, that is perfectly correct German.
Then the word order is:
- Main clause: Ich vermisse unsere langen Gespräche,
- Subordinate clause: seitdem mein Bruder im Ausland lebt.
Inside the subordinate clause, lebt still goes to the end, because seitdem still introduces a subordinate clause.
Only the overall order of the two clauses changes; their internal grammar stays the same.