Manchmal träume ich von einem ruhigen Tag im Park.

Sometimes I dream of a quiet day in the park.

Breakdown of Manchmal träume ich von einem ruhigen Tag im Park.

• ich: I
• der Tag: the day
• ruhig: quiet
• manchmal: sometimes

Questions & Answers about Manchmal träume ich von einem ruhigen Tag im Park.

Why does the verb träume come after Manchmal and before ich? I thought the verb comes second.

In main German clauses, the finite verb must be in second position (the V2 rule), but second position means second element, not necessarily the second word.

In this sentence:

• Manchmal = 1st element (an adverb)
• träume = 2nd element (the finite verb)
• ich = 3rd element (the subject)
• von einem ruhigen Tag im Park = the rest of the sentence

So the structure is:

• [Time] Manchmal – [Verb] träume – [Subject] ich – [Object] von einem ruhigen Tag im Park

If you start with the subject instead, you also see V2 clearly:

• Ich träume manchmal von einem ruhigen Tag im Park.

Here, ich is the 1st element, träume is still the 2nd element. The rule is obeyed in both versions.

Why is it träume von and not just träume or träume über?