Breakdown of Nach der Beratung beim Anwalt fühle ich mich sicherer mit dem neuen Vertrag.
Questions & Answers about Nach der Beratung beim Anwalt fühle ich mich sicherer mit dem neuen Vertrag.
In German you usually use an article with abstract nouns like Beratung when you mean a specific, concrete event.
- Nach der Beratung = After the (specific) consultation – the listener knows which consultation you mean.
- Nach Beratung (without article) is possible but sounds more formal and abstract, like after consulting / after deliberation as a general process.
In everyday speech, Nach der Beratung is the normal, natural choice because you’re talking about a particular meeting with a lawyer, not the concept of “consultation” in general.
Beratung is feminine: die Beratung in the nominative.
The preposition nach always takes the dative case. The dative of feminine nouns uses der:
- Nominative: die Beratung (the consultation – subject)
- Dative: der Beratung (to/after the consultation)
So:
- Nach der Beratung = after the consultation (dative after nach).
Beim is simply the contracted form of bei dem:
- bei (at, with) + dem (dative masculine/neuter article) → beim
So:
- bei dem Anwalt = beim Anwalt
Both are grammatically correct. Beim is just more natural and much more common in spoken and written German.
Meaning-wise:
- beim Anwalt usually means at the lawyer’s office or with the lawyer (in a consultation).
It focuses on being “at” or “with” the person in their professional role, not on physical location alone like in the building.
Both prepositions are possible, but they emphasize different things:
- beim Anwalt – literally “at/with the lawyer.” This is the standard way to say you had a consultation or appointment with a lawyer. It highlights being at their office / in a professional session.
- mit dem Anwalt – “with the lawyer.” This emphasizes being together with them, doing something with them (talking, working on a case, etc.), but doesn’t automatically imply “formal consultation at their office.”
For the idea of “a legal consultation at a lawyer’s office,” beim Anwalt is the idiomatic choice.
Both are correct:
- Nach der Beratung beim Anwalt fühle ich mich sicherer mit dem neuen Vertrag.
- Ich fühle mich nach der Beratung beim Anwalt sicherer mit dem neuen Vertrag.
German main clauses follow the verb-second (V2) rule: the conjugated verb must be in the second position.
In the original sentence, the whole phrase Nach der Beratung beim Anwalt is put in the first position for emphasis (it’s one big “block”/element). Then the conjugated verb fühle must come second:
- 1st element: Nach der Beratung beim Anwalt
- 2nd element: fühle
- then: ich mich sicherer mit dem neuen Vertrag
In Ich fühle mich nach der Beratung…, the first element is Ich, the second is fühle – also correct.
Fronting Nach der Beratung beim Anwalt puts special focus on the consultation as the cause of the new feeling of security.
In German, sich fühlen is a reflexive verb meaning “to feel (in oneself)” in terms of emotional or physical state:
- Ich fühle mich sicherer. = I feel more confident/safer.
Ich fühle sicherer without mich is wrong here. With emotional/physical states, fühlen almost always needs the reflexive pronoun:
- Ich fühle mich gut / schlecht / unsicher / krank.
You can say:
- Ich bin sicherer mit dem neuen Vertrag.
This is grammatically correct, but it sounds a bit more static, like a factual statement about your situation. Ich fühle mich sicherer emphasizes your subjective feeling, which fits very well after a consultation.
Yes, sicherer is the comparative form of the adjective sicher:
- sicher → sicherer (more sure / more confident / safer)
In this sentence, it means “more confident” or “safer” than before. The comparison to your earlier state is understood from context, so you don’t need als (“than”) explicitly.
You would use als if you compare two clearly named things:
- Ich fühle mich sicherer mit dem neuen Vertrag als mit dem alten.
I feel more secure with the new contract than with the old one.
You can also intensify it:
- Ich fühle mich jetzt viel sicherer mit dem neuen Vertrag.
I feel much more secure now with the new contract.
The preposition choice reflects how German conceptualizes the feeling:
- mit (+ dative) is used for being satisfied/comfortable/confident with something:
- zufrieden mit dem Vertrag – satisfied with the contract
- sicher mit dem neuen Vertrag – feeling secure with the new contract
So mit dem neuen Vertrag literally means “with the new contract,” but idiomatically: about / in relation to the new contract.
über den neuen Vertrag would mean “about the new contract” in the sense of talking or thinking about it:
- Wir haben über den neuen Vertrag gesprochen. – We talked about the new contract.
Here, the feeling is tied to your relationship to the contract, so mit is correct.
Vertrag is masculine: der Vertrag in the nominative.
The preposition mit always takes the dative case, and masculine dative is dem:
- Nominative: der neue Vertrag – the new contract (subject)
- Accusative: den neuen Vertrag – the new contract (direct object)
- Dative: dem neuen Vertrag – to/with the new contract
Since mit requires dative:
- mit dem neuen Vertrag
The adjective neu- takes the -en ending in the dative with a definite article:
- mit dem neuen Vertrag (not mit dem neue Vertrag).
Yes, and each version changes the nuance slightly:
mit dem neuen Vertrag
Refers to a specific contract that both speaker and listener already know about – the new contract (we’ve been discussing).mit einem neuen Vertrag
Introduces a new contract into the conversation; the listener doesn’t yet know which one. It’s more like with a new contract (some new contract, not necessarily specified).mit meinem neuen Vertrag
Adds possession: with my new contract. This makes it clear the contract belongs to or is associated with the speaker.
All are grammatically fine as long as you keep the dative:
- mit einem neuen Vertrag
- mit meinem neuen Vertrag
Yes, German word order is fairly flexible for these “extra information” phrases. These are all correct and natural:
- Nach der Beratung beim Anwalt fühle ich mich mit dem neuen Vertrag sicherer.
- Nach der Beratung beim Anwalt fühle ich mich sicherer mit dem neuen Vertrag.
- Ich fühle mich nach der Beratung beim Anwalt sicherer mit dem neuen Vertrag.
- Ich fühle mich mit dem neuen Vertrag nach der Beratung beim Anwalt sicherer.
The core rules:
- The conjugated verb (fühle) stays in second position in the main clause.
- Ich and the reflexive mich should stay close to fühle.
- The prepositional phrases (nach der Beratung beim Anwalt, mit dem neuen Vertrag) can normally be moved around after that, with only small changes in emphasis.
One version to avoid is:
- Nach der Beratung beim Anwalt mit dem neuen Vertrag fühle ich mich sicherer.
This sounds like the consultation itself was “with the new contract,” which is a bit ambiguous and slightly awkward.
German often uses the present tense to describe a current state that results from a past event.
- The consultation (Nach der Beratung) is in the past.
- Your feeling (fühle ich mich sicherer) is in the present.
The English translation is naturally also present: After the consultation at/with the lawyer, I feel more confident about the new contract.
If you wanted to emphasize the past feeling at a specific moment (e.g., recounting a story), you could use the perfect:
- Nach der Beratung beim Anwalt habe ich mich sicherer mit dem neuen Vertrag gefühlt.
After the consultation, I felt more secure with the new contract.
But for a general, current state, the simple present fühle ich mich is standard.
Beratung here means a professional consultation / legal advice session. It implies you met the lawyer to get expert advice, not just casual chatting.
- die Beratung beim Anwalt ≈ the consultation with the lawyer / the legal advice session
Regarding the lawyer word:
- der Anwalt – lawyer, attorney (general term; masculine)
- die Anwältin – female lawyer
- der Rechtsanwalt – more formal/specific: attorney-at-law, legal counsel
(female: die Rechtsanwältin)
In everyday speech, Anwalt is very common and perfectly fine in this sentence. Rechtsanwalt sounds a bit more formal or specific to the legal profession.