Wir bringen den Abfall jeden Abend in die Mülltonne, damit die Küche sauber bleibt.

We take the trash to the trash bin every evening so that the kitchen stays clean.

Breakdown of Wir bringen den Abfall jeden Abend in die Mülltonne, damit die Küche sauber bleibt.

• wir: we
• die Küche: the kitchen
• der Abend: the evening
• in: into
• bleiben: to stay
• damit: so that
• bringen: to bring
• sauber: clean
• den: the; (masculine, accusative)
• jeden: every; (masculine, accusative)
• die: the; (feminine, accusative)
• der Abfall: the trash
• die Mülltonne: the trash bin

Questions & Answers about Wir bringen den Abfall jeden Abend in die Mülltonne, damit die Küche sauber bleibt.

Why is it den Abfall and not der Abfall in this sentence?

Abfall is a masculine noun: der Abfall (nominative singular).
In the sentence, Abfall is the direct object of the verb bringen:

• Wir (subject, nominative)
• bringen (verb)
• den Abfall (direct object, accusative)

Masculine nouns change their article in the accusative:

• Nominative: der Abfall
• Accusative: den Abfall

So den Abfall is correct because bringen takes a direct object in the accusative case.

Why is it jeden Abend and not jede Abend or jeder Abend?

Abend is masculine in German: der Abend.
The phrase jeden Abend is an accusative time expression meaning “every evening”.

The article-like word jeder (“every”) declines like this in singular:

• Masculine:
  
  • Nominative: jeder Abend
  • Accusative: jeden Abend
• Feminine:
  
  • Nominative/accusative: jede Nacht
• Neuter:
  
  • Nominative/accusative: jedes Jahr

In time expressions, German very often uses the accusative, so we get jeden Abend (masculine accusative), not jede or jeder.

What grammatical role is jeden Abend, and where can it go in the word order?

jeden Abend is an adverbial phrase of time (“every evening”).
In the given sentence it appears in the “middle field”:

• Wir bringen den Abfall jeden Abend in die Mülltonne …

You can move time phrases around as long as the finite verb stays in second position in a main clause. Some natural variants:

• Wir bringen jeden Abend den Abfall in die Mülltonne …
• Jeden Abend bringen wir den Abfall in die Mülltonne …

All of these are correct, but the most typical neutral order in German is time – manner – place, so putting jeden Abend before in die Mülltonne (the place) is very common.

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

in is a two-way preposition (Wechselpräposition).
With these prepositions:

• Accusative = movement into / onto something (change of location)
• Dative = location (no movement, just “in / on” somewhere)

Here, the trash is being moved into the trash can, so we use accusative:

• in die Mülltonne (movement into the bin)

If you were just describing where the trash already is, you would use dative:

• Der Abfall ist in der Mülltonne. – The trash is in the bin.

Could you also say zur Mülltonne instead of in die Mülltonne?

You can say zur Mülltonne, but it changes the meaning slightly:

• in die Mülltonne = into the trash can (emphasis on putting it inside)
• zur Mülltonne = to the trash can (emphasis on going to that place; it doesn’t specifically say you put it inside)

For throwing trash away, in die Mülltonne is the more precise and usual phrasing, because the action includes actually putting it into the bin, not just walking to it.

What does damit mean here, and how is it different from weil or so dass?

In this sentence, damit introduces a purpose clause:
damit ≈ “so that / in order that”.

• Wir bringen den Abfall …, damit die Küche sauber bleibt.
  → We take the trash out so that the kitchen stays clean. (purpose)

Compare:

• weil = “because” → introduces a reason:
  
  • Wir bringen den Abfall raus, weil die Küche sauber bleiben soll.
    → We take the trash out because the kitchen should stay clean.
• so dass / sodass = “so that / so” → often expresses a result:
  
  • Wir bringen selten den Abfall raus, sodass die Küche oft schmutzig ist.
    → We rarely take the trash out, so the kitchen is often dirty.

So damit focuses on goal/purpose, not on explanation (weil) or outcome/result (so dass).

Why does the verb bleibt go at the end of the clause after damit?

damit is a subordinating conjunction (like weil, dass, wenn).
In German, in subordinate clauses introduced by such conjunctions, the finite verb moves to the end of the clause:

• damit die Küche sauber bleibt
  
  • die Küche = subject
  • sauber = predicate adjective
  • bleibt = finite verb at the end

Pattern: [conjunction] + [subject] + [other elements] + [finite verb]

This is why the main clause has V2 word order (Wir bringen …), but the damit-clause has the verb at the end (… die Küche sauber bleibt).

Why is it die Küche and not der Küche in damit die Küche sauber bleibt?

In the damit-clause, die Küche is the subject, so it must be in the nominative case.

• Feminine noun Küche:
  
  • Nominative: die Küche
  • Accusative: die Küche
  • Dative: der Küche

damit does not govern a special case; it just tells you this is a subordinate clause.
You still choose the case according to the function in the clause.
Since “the kitchen” is doing the “staying clean” (it’s the subject), die Küche (nominative) is correct; der Küche would be dative and is wrong here.

Why is sauber not changing its ending here (why not saubere)?

Here sauber is a predicate adjective after the verb bleiben (“to remain, stay”):

• die Küche bleibt sauber – “the kitchen stays clean”

Predicate adjectives in German do not get endings; they stay in their base form:

• Die Küche ist sauber. – is clean
• Der Tisch bleibt sauber. – stays clean
• Das Zimmer wird sauber. – becomes clean

Adjectives only get endings when they directly modify a noun (attributive position):

• die saubere Küche – the clean kitchen
• ein sauberes Zimmer – a clean room

So sauber bleibt is correct; saubere bleibt would be wrong.

Is Abfall the same as Müll? Which one is more common?

In many contexts, Abfall and Müll both mean “trash / garbage”.
There are some nuances:

• Müll is more everyday, colloquial:
  
  • den Müll rausbringen – to take out the trash
• Abfall can sound a bit more formal/official, and is common in compounds and on signs:
  
  • Abfallbehälter – waste container
  • Abfallwirtschaft – waste management

In normal spoken German, people often say:

• Wir bringen den Müll jeden Abend raus.

Your sentence with den Abfall is absolutely correct German, just slightly more neutral/formal in tone.

Why use bringen and not nehmen or tragen here?

bringen means “to bring / to take something to a destination” and focuses on transporting something to a place:

• Wir bringen den Abfall in die Mülltonne.
  → We move the trash to/into the bin.

Other verbs:

• nehmen = “to take” (take something from somewhere), not specifically “carry to somewhere”:
  
  • Ich nehme den Müll. – I take the trash (pick it up), but you don’t say where it goes.
• tragen = “to carry”, emphasizes the physical act of carrying:
  
  • Wir tragen den Abfall nach draußen. – We carry the trash outside.
• Very common in speech: rausbringen (“bring out”):
  
  • Wir bringen den Müll jeden Abend raus.

In your sentence, bringen … in die Mülltonne nicely expresses both movement and the destination (into the bin), which is why it fits well.

Why is there a comma before damit?

German always puts a comma before subordinate clauses introduced by conjunctions like damit, weil, dass, wenn, obwohl etc.

Your sentence has:

• Main clause: Wir bringen den Abfall jeden Abend in die Mülltonne
• Subordinate (purpose) clause: damit die Küche sauber bleibt

The comma is required to separate these two clauses:

• Wir bringen den Abfall jeden Abend in die Mülltonne, damit die Küche sauber bleibt.

Leaving out this comma would be considered a punctuation error in standard written German.