Viele Informationen im Internet können mich verwirren.

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Breakdown of Viele Informationen im Internet können mich verwirren.

• viele: many
• mich: me
• im: in the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
• die Information: the information
• das Internet: the internet
• verwirren: to confuse

Questions & Answers about Viele Informationen im Internet können mich verwirren.

Why is Informationen plural here, when English information is usually uncountable?

In German, Information is normally treated as a countable noun:

• singular: die Information (one piece of information)
• plural: die Informationen (several pieces of information)

So if you want to say many pieces of information, you use the plural Informationen.

English often treats information as an uncountable mass noun (much information, a lot of information), but German prefers to count separate Informationen in many contexts, especially when talking about multiple bits, facts, or items you read online.

Why do we say viele Informationen and not viel Informationen?

Because Informationen is plural and countable here.

• viele is used with countable plurals:

  • viele Bücher – many books
  • viele Fragen – many questions
  • viele Informationen – many pieces of information

• viel is used:

  • with uncountable or mass nouns in the singular:
    
    • viel Wasser – much water
    • viel Zeit – much time
    • viel Information – a lot of information (viewed as a mass)
  • or adverbially (viel lernen, viel sprechen).

You could also say Viel Information im Internet kann mich verwirren.
That treats Information as a mass singular noun; then the verb is singular kann. It sounds a bit more abstract or general.

In your sentence, viele Informationen focuses more on multiple separate bits of information.

What case is Informationen in, and how can I tell?

Here Informationen is in the nominative plural:

• It is the subject of the sentence – it’s the thing that does the action (können mich verwirren).
• The verb is können (3rd person plural), which agrees with a plural subject.
• The determiner viele is in nominative plural as well.

Structure:

• Viele Informationen (subject, nominative plural)
• im Internet (prepositional phrase, dative)
• können (finite verb, 3rd person plural)
• mich (direct object, accusative)
• verwirren (infinitive at the end)

So viele Informationen is clearly in nominative plural.

Why is the verb können plural and not singular kann?

The verb must agree with its subject in number and person:

• Subject: Viele Informationen → 3rd person plural
• Therefore: können (3rd person plural form of können)

Compare:

• Viele Informationen im Internet können mich verwirren.
  Subject is plural → können

• Viel Information im Internet kann mich verwirren.
  Subject is singular mass noun (Viel Information) → kann

So the form of können tells you that the subject is plural.

Why use können mich verwirren instead of just verwirren mich?

können adds a nuance of possibility or potential, not certainty:

• Viele Informationen im Internet verwirren mich.
  → They actually confuse me (they do so as a regular fact).

• Viele Informationen im Internet können mich verwirren.
  → They can confuse me / are capable of confusing me / have the potential to confuse me.

In everyday German, können in this context is often used to express:

• Sometimes they confuse me.
• In some situations, they confuse me.
• There is a risk or tendency that they confuse me.

So können softens the statement a bit, like English can.

What is mich, and why is it in the accusative case?

mich is the accusative form of ich (I → me):

• ich (nominative) – I
• mich (accusative) – me
• mir (dative) – to/for me

The verb verwirren takes a direct object (someone/something that is being confused):

• etwas verwirrt mich – something confuses me
• Viele Informationen verwirren mich. – Many pieces of information confuse me.

Direct objects are normally in the accusative in German, so ich becomes mich.

Word order can change, but the case stays the same:

• Viele Informationen können mich verwirren.
• Viele Informationen können verwirrend für mich sein. (different construction)

In both cases, the person affected is mich / mir, not ich.

What case is im Internet, and what does im stand for?

im is the contraction of in dem:

• in (preposition)
• dem (dative singular article, neuter → das Internet)

So:

• im Internet = in dem Internet → in the internet / on the internet

The case is dative, because:

• in can take either accusative (movement into) or dative (location).
• Here, we are talking about where the information is (location), not movement:
  • → Wo? im Internet → dative.

So im Internet is a prepositional phrase in the dative case.

Can I say auf dem Internet instead of im Internet?

Normally, no. Standard German prefers:

• im Internet (by far the most common)
• colloquially also im Netz (on/within the net)

auf dem Internet sounds non-native and is generally avoided.
For websites or platforms, you might say:

• auf einer Website – on a website
• auf YouTube, auf Instagram – on YouTube / Instagram

But for the medium in general, stick with im Internet.

Why is there no article like die in Viele Informationen?

In German, indefinite plural nouns often appear without an article, similar to English:

• Menschen brauchen Wasser. – People need water.
• Kinder spielen im Park. – Children are playing in the park.
• Viele Informationen – many pieces of information.

Here, viele already tells you it’s indefinite plural, so an article like die is not needed:

• Viele Informationen im Internet können mich verwirren.
  → many (unspecified) pieces of information

If you make it more specific, you can add an article:

• Viele der Informationen im Internet können mich verwirren.
  → many of the (specific) pieces of information on the internet can confuse me

So: no article is normal for general, indefinite plural.

Can the word order change, e.g. Im Internet können viele Informationen mich verwirren?

Yes. German allows several orders as long as:

1. The finite verb (können) is in second position in a main clause.
2. The infinitive (verwirren) goes to the end.

Some correct variants and their emphasis:

• Viele Informationen im Internet können mich verwirren.
  Neutral: subject first, then location, then object.

• Im Internet können viele Informationen mich verwirren.
  Emphasis on im Internet (where this happens).

• Mich können viele Informationen im Internet verwirren.
  Emphasis on mich (I am the one who gets confused).

• Viele Informationen können mich im Internet verwirren.
  Slight emphasis shift to im Internet; still natural.

All of these are grammatically correct; the differences are mainly in focus and emphasis, not in basic meaning.