Nach der Ernte sieht die Landschaft rund um den Bauernhof ganz anders aus.

After the harvest the landscape around the farm looks quite different.

Breakdown of Nach der Ernte sieht die Landschaft rund um den Bauernhof ganz anders aus.

• nach: after
• ganz: quite
• aussehen: to look
• anders: different
• der Bauernhof: the farm
• die Ernte: the harvest
• die Landschaft: the landscape
• rund um: around

Questions & Answers about Nach der Ernte sieht die Landschaft rund um den Bauernhof ganz anders aus.

Why is it Nach der Ernte and not Nach die Ernte or just Nach Ernte?

The preposition nach normally takes the dative case in German when it means “after (time)”.

• Ernte (harvest) is a feminine noun:
  
  • nominative: die Ernte
  • dative: der Ernte

So after nach you must use the dative: nach der Ernte.

Using nach die Ernte would be wrong, because die is nominative/accusative, not dative.

Saying nach Ernte without an article is not idiomatic in this meaning. You almost always say nach der Ernte (or specify which harvest, e.g. nach der Maisernte, nach unserer Ernte).

Can I start the sentence with Die Landschaft instead of Nach der Ernte? How does the word order change?

Yes. German is a verb-second (V2) language: the conjugated verb must be in second position in a main clause, but almost any one element can stand in the first position.

Original: > Nach der Ernte sieht die Landschaft rund um den Bauernhof ganz anders aus.

If you start with the subject:

Die Landschaft rund um den Bauernhof sieht nach der Ernte ganz anders aus.

Both are correct. The difference is emphasis:

• Nach der Ernte sieht … → emphasizes the time (“After the harvest, …”).
• Die Landschaft … sieht … → emphasizes the landscape itself.

What is the function of sieht … aus, and why is aus at the end?

sieht … aus comes from the verb aussehen = “to look / to appear (visually)”.

• aussehen is a separable verb:
  
  • infinitive: aussehen
  • 3rd person singular: er/sie/es sieht aus

In a main clause:

• the conjugated part (sieht) stands in second position,
• the separable prefix (aus) goes to the end of the clause:

Die Landschaft sieht … ganz anders aus.

In the infinitive or past participle, it’s joined again:

• aussehen (to look)
• hat ganz anders ausgesehen (has looked very different)

Could I just say ist ganz anders instead of sieht ganz anders aus?

You could say:

Die Landschaft ist nach der Ernte ganz anders.

This is grammatically correct, but the meaning is a bit different.

• sieht … anders aus = looks different / appears different, focusing on visual impression.
• ist anders = is different (in general), which can be visual, structural, etc.

In this context (talking about how the area looks after the harvest), sieht … anders aus is more natural and specific, because you are describing how it looks.

What does ganz add here, and is ganz anders the same as “very different”?

ganz is an intensifier. Here it means something like:

• completely different
• quite different
• totally different

So ganz anders ≈ “very different / completely different”, but with a slightly different feel.

You could in theory say sehr anders, but it’s much less common and can sound a bit odd. Native speakers normally say:

• ganz anders
• völlig anders
• total anders (more colloquial)

So ganz anders is the most natural everyday choice.

Why is it anders and not andere? The noun Landschaft is feminine, so shouldn’t it be ganz andere?

Here you have to see what is being modified:

• anders is an adverb/adjectival predicate = “different(ly)”
• andere would be an attributive adjective before a noun = “different (kind of)”

In the sentence:

Die Landschaft … sieht ganz anders aus.

anders describes how it looks, not what kind of landscape it is grammatically. It’s part of the predicate with aussehen:

• It looks different → sie sieht anders aus

If you wanted to use andere, you would put it before a noun:

• eine ganz andere Landschaft = a completely different landscape
• die ganz andere Landschaft = the completely different landscape

So:

• Sie sieht ganz anders aus. ✅ (It looks completely different.)
• Sie ist eine ganz andere Landschaft. ✅ (It is a completely different landscape.)
• Sie sieht ganz andere aus. ❌ (wrong; andere can’t stand there like that)

Why is it die Landschaft but den Bauernhof?

Two separate things are happening: gender and case.

1. Gender:

   • Landschaft is feminine → nominative: die Landschaft
   • Bauernhof is masculine → nominative: der Bauernhof

2. Case:

   • die Landschaft is the subject of the sentence → nominative.
   • den Bauernhof is the object of the preposition rund um, and rund um takes the accusative.

Masculine noun Bauernhof in accusative singular becomes:

• nominative: der Bauernhof
• accusative: den Bauernhof

So the forms in the sentence are exactly what you expect:

• die Landschaft (feminine nominative)
• den Bauernhof (masculine accusative after rund um)

What does rund um mean exactly, and how is it different from just um or um … herum?

In this sentence, rund um means “around / all around” in a spatial sense.

• rund um den Bauernhof → “around the farm”, “in the area surrounding the farm”

Differences:

• um den Bauernhof
  Also “around the farm”, but rund um often sounds like the area is completely encircling or more fully surrounding.

• um den Bauernhof herum
  Very close in meaning to rund um den Bauernhof; both are natural.
  rund um is a bit shorter and very idiomatic.

rund um always takes the accusative:

• rund um den Bauernhof
• rund um die Stadt
• rund um das Haus

Why is nach followed by dative, but rund um followed by accusative?

This is a matter of prepositional government: in German, each preposition (or fixed prepositional phrase) governs a certain case.

• nach (in the sense of “after” in time expressions) → dative

  • nach der Ernte
  • nach dem Essen

• rund um → accusative

  • rund um den Bauernhof
  • rund um die Stadt

There isn’t a logic you can re-derive every time; you mostly have to learn which case each preposition (or combination) requires.

Could the sentence also be Nach der Ernte sieht es rund um den Bauernhof ganz anders aus?

Yes, that is a correct and natural alternative:

Nach der Ernte sieht es rund um den Bauernhof ganz anders aus.

Here:

• es is a kind of dummy subject (“it”) that stands in the subject position.
• The real “content” is the situation around the farm.

Nuance:

• Die Landschaft rund um den Bauernhof sieht … aus.
  → explicitly says that the landscape looks different.

• Es sieht rund um den Bauernhof … aus.
  → more general; “Things look very different around the farm.”

Both are fine; the original version is a bit more specific.

Is Ernte always used with an article like der Ernte, or can I say nach Ernte?

In this meaning, you normally use an article or other determiner:

• nach der Ernte (after the harvest)
• nach unserer Ernte (after our harvest)
• nach der Maisernte (after the corn harvest)
• nach der Weizenernte (after the wheat harvest)

Saying nach Ernte on its own would sound unidiomatic in standard German in this context.

You do see Ernte without an article in:

• compound words: Erntezeit, Erntemonat
• very technical or label-like phrases.

But for a normal sentence about time like this, use nach der Ernte.

How would the sentence change in the past tense?

You can use either Präteritum (simple past) or Perfekt (present perfect), depending on style and context.

1. Präteritum (quite natural in writing and narratives):

Nach der Ernte sah die Landschaft rund um den Bauernhof ganz anders aus.
After the harvest, the landscape around the farm looked completely different.

• sah … aus = simple past of sieht … aus

2. Perfekt (very common in spoken German):

Nach der Ernte hat die Landschaft rund um den Bauernhof ganz anders ausgesehen.

• hat … ausgesehen = perfect of sieht … aus

Both are correct; the choice depends mainly on regional and stylistic preferences.