Wegen der Verletzung hat er in der Schule viel nachholen müssen.

Because of the injury he has had to catch up on a lot at school.

Breakdown of Wegen der Verletzung hat er in der Schule viel nachholen müssen.

• in: in
• haben: to have
• er: he
• müssen: must
• die Schule: the school
• der: the; (feminine, dative)
• viel: a lot
• wegen: because of
• der: the; (feminine, genitive)
• die Verletzung: the injury
• nachholen: to catch up on

Questions & Answers about Wegen der Verletzung hat er in der Schule viel nachholen müssen.

Why is it der Verletzung and not die Verletzung after wegen?

Because wegen normally takes the genitive case in standard German.

• The noun Verletzung (injury) is feminine.
• Feminine definite article in the nominative is die Verletzung.
• Feminine definite article in the genitive singular is der Verletzung.

So:

• Nominative: die Verletzung (the injury – subject)
• Genitive: der Verletzung (of the injury – after wegen)

The sentence starts with a genitive phrase:

• Wegen der Verletzung = Because of the injury / Due to the injury

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I thought wegen sometimes takes the dative. Is der Verletzung genitive or dative here?

In standard written German, wegen takes the genitive. So in this sentence, it is genitive in terms of grammar.

However, for feminine nouns, genitive singular and dative singular articles both look the same:

• Feminine genitive singular: der Verletzung
• Feminine dative singular: der Verletzung

So the form der Verletzung is formally identical for both cases, but:

• After wegen, you should think of it as genitive in standard German.

In spoken German, many people do use the dative after wegen, e.g.:

• wegen dem Unfall instead of wegen des Unfalls

But in careful/standard language, genitive after wegen is preferred.

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What tense is hat … nachholen müssen, and how would it translate literally?

Hat … nachholen müssen is in the present perfect tense (Perfekt).

Structure:

• Auxiliary: hat (3rd person singular of haben)
• Main verb (full verb) in infinitive: nachholen
• Modal verb in infinitive: müssen

Literal breakdown:

• hat = has
• nachholen = to catch up (on), to make up (for something missed)
• müssen = must / to have to

A very literal translation would be:

• He has had to catch up a lot in school.

Natural English usually uses simple past here:

• Because of the injury, he had to catch up a lot at school.

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Why is it nachholen müssen at the end and not müssen nachholen?

In German perfect tense with a modal verb, you often get a “double infinitive” at the end:

• Full verb infinitive
• then modal verb infinitive

So the pattern is:

• hat
  • [other stuff]
    • [full verb] [modal]

In this sentence:

• Full verb: nachholen
• Modal: müssen

So the correct order is:

• … viel nachholen müssen.

Müssen nachholen at the end would break the usual rule for double infinitives. The modal verb comes last in the cluster.

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Why not say hat viel nachholen gemusst instead of hat viel nachholen müssen?

Forms like gemusst do exist, but for modal verbs in the perfect tense, German strongly prefers the double infinitive construction:

• Auxiliary (hat / haben)
• • full verb infinitive
• • modal verb infinitive

So:

• Preferred: Er hat viel nachholen müssen.
• Much less common / can sound awkward: Er hat viel nachholen gemusst.

For most everyday use, you should stick to the pattern:

• hat … [full verb] [modal]
  
  • Er hat arbeiten müssen.
  • Wir haben gehen müssen.
  • Sie hat viel nachholen müssen.

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What exactly does nachholen mean, and is it a separable verb?

Nachholen is a separable verb:

• Prefix: nach-
• Verb stem: holen

Basic meaning: to catch up on / to make up for something that was missed.

Examples:

• Ich hole den verpassten Unterricht nach.
  I’m catching up on the lessons I missed.
• Sie muss die Prüfung nachholen.
  She has to retake the exam.

In main clauses with finite verb forms, the prefix separates:

• Ich hole das später nach.

But in infinitive form or at the end of a clause (as in the perfect with a modal), the parts stay together:

• … viel nachholen müssen
• … den Test nachholen

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Why is it viel nachholen müssen and not viele nachholen müssen?

Viel and viele behave differently:

• viel (no -e) = a lot, much (used with uncountable or abstract amounts)
• viele = many (used with plural countable things)

Here nachholen is a verb meaning “to catch up / make up” in general; we’re talking about the amount of catching up, not counting individual items.

So:

• viel nachholen = to have a lot to catch up on (a large amount of missed work in general)

If you wanted to count concrete things, you’d use viele + plural noun:

• Er musste viele Aufgaben nachholen.
  He had to make up many assignments.

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Why is it in der Schule and not in die Schule?

The preposition in can take either dative or accusative, depending on the meaning:

• Dative = location (where something is)
• Accusative = direction (where something is going)

In this sentence, in der Schule describes where he had to catch up (the location), not movement towards the school.

So:

• in der Schule (dative) = in/at school (location)
• in die Schule (accusative) = into school / to school (direction, movement)

Since we’re just saying what he had to do at school, dative is correct: in der Schule.

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Why does the sentence start with Wegen der Verletzung and then have hat right after it? What happened to normal word order?

German main clauses follow the verb-second (V2) rule:

• The finite verb (here: hat) must be in second position in the sentence.

Second position means:

• The first complete element (which can be more than one word) comes first,
• then immediately the finite verb.

In the sentence:

• First element: Wegen der Verletzung (a prepositional phrase)
• Second position: hat (finite verb)

So the order is:

• Wegen der Verletzung | hat | er | in der Schule | viel nachholen müssen.

If you start with Er, you still keep V2:

• Er hat wegen der Verletzung in der Schule viel nachholen müssen.

Different elements can come in first position for emphasis, but the finite verb stays second.

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Can I change the word order? For example: Er hat in der Schule wegen der Verletzung viel nachholen müssen?

Yes. German allows quite a bit of flexibility in word order, especially for adverbial phrases like causes, places, times, etc.

All of these are grammatically fine and mean essentially the same thing (small differences in emphasis only):

• Wegen der Verletzung hat er in der Schule viel nachholen müssen.
• Er hat wegen der Verletzung in der Schule viel nachholen müssen.
• Er hat in der Schule wegen der Verletzung viel nachholen müssen.
• In der Schule hat er wegen der Verletzung viel nachholen müssen.

Key constraints you must keep:

1. Finite verb is in second position in main clauses.
2. The double infinitive stays at the end: … viel nachholen müssen.

Within the middle part, you can usually reorder wegen der Verletzung, er, in der Schule, etc., to shift emphasis, but the basic structure remains.

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Could I also say Wegen seiner Verletzung hat er in der Schule viel nachholen müssen? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can, and it’s very natural. The difference is:

• wegen der Verletzung = because of the injury (some injury mentioned or understood from context)
• wegen seiner Verletzung = because of his injury (explicitly says whose injury it is)

So:

• Wegen der Verletzung hat er in der Schule viel nachholen müssen.
  Because of the injury, he had to catch up a lot at school.

• Wegen seiner Verletzung hat er in der Schule viel nachholen müssen.
  Because of his injury, he had to catch up a lot at school.

Grammar point: seiner Verletzung is also genitive after wegen:

• Masculine/neuter genitive: seines X
• Feminine genitive: seiner X

Here Verletzung is feminine, so:

• wegen seiner Verletzung = because of his injury.