Breakdown of Vor der Vorstellung trinken wir im Café einen Kaffee.
Questions & Answers about Vor der Vorstellung trinken wir im Café einen Kaffee.
It is a statement, not a question.
In German main clauses the finite verb must be in second position (the famous Verb-second or V2 rule). “Second” means “second element,” not second word.
- Vor der Vorstellung = first element (a time phrase)
- trinken = second element (the verb)
- wir = third element (the subject)
So the word order Vor der Vorstellung trinken wir … is a normal declarative word order: adverbial in first position, verb second, subject later.
A yes–no question would start with the verb:
- Trinken wir vor der Vorstellung im Café einen Kaffee?
(Verb is in first position = clear question)
So:
- Verb first → question
- Verb second (after some other element) → normal statement
Yes. A very natural alternative is:
- Wir trinken vor der Vorstellung im Café einen Kaffee.
Both versions mean the same. The difference is what you foreground:
- Vor der Vorstellung trinken wir …
Slight emphasis on the time (“before the performance, we do X”). - Wir trinken vor der Vorstellung …
Slight emphasis on we (“we drink coffee before the performance…”).
German lets you put many different elements in the first position (the “Vorfeld”) as long as the verb remains in second position:
- Im Café trinken wir vor der Vorstellung einen Kaffee. (emphasis on place)
- Einen Kaffee trinken wir vor der Vorstellung im Café. (emphasis on “a coffee”)
All are grammatically correct; the choice is about focus and style, not basic meaning.
This involves prepositions and cases.
The preposition vor
vor is a “two-way” preposition; it can take dative or accusative:- Dative → location or time (where? when?)
- Accusative → direction (to where?).
In the sentence the phrase is about time (“before the performance”), so it uses the dative.
The noun’s gender and case
Vorstellung has the article die in the nominative singular:- die Vorstellung (the performance)
In the dative singular feminine, die becomes der:
- vor der Vorstellung = before the performance
So:
- vor der Vorstellung ✅ (dative feminine, “before the performance”)
- vor die Vorstellung ❌ would be accusative and would sound like movement to a place in front of the performance (doesn’t make sense with time)
- vor dem Vorstellung ❌ wrong gender; Vorstellung is feminine, not masculine/neuter
vor and bevor are different types of words:
vor is a preposition. It must be followed by a noun phrase:
- vor der Vorstellung (before the performance)
- vor dem Essen (before the meal)
- vor dem Kino (in front of the cinema / before the cinema)
bevor is a subordinating conjunction. It must be followed by a clause with a verb:
- Bevor die Vorstellung beginnt, trinken wir im Café einen Kaffee.
- literally: Before the performance begins, we drink a coffee in the café.
- Bevor die Vorstellung beginnt, trinken wir im Café einen Kaffee.
You cannot say:
- ✗ bevor der Vorstellung
You can rewrite the idea with bevor, but you must add a verb:
- Bevor die Vorstellung anfängt, trinken wir im Café einen Kaffee.
So:
- vor + noun → vor der Vorstellung
- bevor + clause/verb → bevor die Vorstellung beginnt
im is simply a shortened form (a contraction) of in dem.
- in + dem → im
German often contracts preposition + definite article:
- an + dem → am
- bei + dem → beim
- zu + dem → zum
- zu + der → zur
In your sentence:
- in dem Café = in the café
- This is a location, so in takes the dative → dem Café.
- The contracted form im Café is much more common in speech and writing.
So im Café and in dem Café mean the same; im Café just sounds natural and idiomatic.
Two things are going on here: capitalization and meaning.
Capitalization
- In German, all nouns are capitalized.
- Café, Kaffee, and Vorstellung are nouns, so they all start with a capital letter.
- Words like vor, der, wir, im, einen are not nouns, so they are not capitalized.
Meaning
- Café = a place where you go to drink coffee, eat cake, etc. (a coffee shop)
- Kaffee = the drink (coffee) or the ground coffee itself
So in the sentence:
- im Café = in the café (location)
- einen Kaffee = a coffee (the drink)
You might physically be in a Café, and you order einen Kaffee.
Because Kaffee is:
- masculine: der Kaffee
- and here it is the direct object (what we are drinking), so it must be in the accusative case.
The indefinite article (ein) for a masculine noun changes in the accusative:
- Nominative: ein Kaffee
- Ein Kaffee ist teuer. (A coffee is expensive.)
- Accusative: einen Kaffee
- Wir trinken einen Kaffee. (We drink a coffee.)
Mini-table for masculine ein:
- Nominative: ein Kaffee
- Accusative: einen Kaffee
- Dative: einem Kaffee
- Genitive: eines Kaffees
So since Kaffee is the thing being drunk (direct object), accusative einen is required: einen Kaffee.
Yes, you can, and it slightly changes the nuance.
Wir trinken Kaffee.
→ We drink (some) coffee.
This is more general, focusing on the activity (drinking coffee as a substance).Wir trinken einen Kaffee.
→ We drink a coffee / we have a cup of coffee.
This suggests a portion, typically one cup per person, like ordering a coffee in a café.
In your sentence, einen Kaffee is natural because you are in a café, and the idea is “we have a coffee there” (a specific serving), not just “we drink coffee” in general.
Both orders are possible; the difference is subtle.
Your sentence has:
- Vor der Vorstellung (time)
- trinken wir (verb + subject)
- im Café (place)
- einen Kaffee (object)
So the pattern is time – place – object. Very typical German is:
- Time – Manner – Place (TMP), and objects often appear with these in the “middle field.”
Alternative word order:
- Vor der Vorstellung trinken wir einen Kaffee im Café.
This focuses slightly more on what (a coffee) and then adds where (in the café). It’s also correct.
In practice:
- Both … im Café einen Kaffee and … einen Kaffee im Café are grammatical.
- Germans often put shorter / less important information earlier and new or emphasized information later.
- Native speakers choose the order that sounds most natural in context and emphasis, not because of a rigid rule.
You can say:
- Einen Kaffee trinken wir vor der Vorstellung im Café.
This is grammatically correct. In this version, einen Kaffee is in the first position, so it is strongly emphasized:
- Roughly: “A coffee is what we drink in the café before the performance.”
Some patterns and their effects:
- Vor der Vorstellung trinken wir im Café einen Kaffee.
Neutral, light focus on “before the performance.” - Wir trinken vor der Vorstellung im Café einen Kaffee.
Neutral, focus on “we.” - Im Café trinken wir vor der Vorstellung einen Kaffee.
Light focus on the location. - Einen Kaffee trinken wir vor der Vorstellung im Café.
Clear emphasis on “a coffee” (e.g. correcting someone who thought you drank tea).
German word order in the middle of the sentence is flexible, but moving elements to first position usually adds emphasis or contrast. All these versions are fine; they just sound more or less “neutral” or “emphatic.”
In everyday German, einen Kaffee trinken is very close in meaning to English “have a coffee”.
It can mean:
- Literally drink a cup of coffee, and also
- Meet someone socially for a coffee:
- Wollen wir nach der Arbeit einen Kaffee trinken?
→ “Shall we have a coffee after work?” (implies going somewhere, chatting, not just the physical act)
- Wollen wir nach der Arbeit einen Kaffee trinken?
So in Vor der Vorstellung trinken wir im Café einen Kaffee, the idea is:
- “Before the performance, we have a coffee in the café.”
It’s a normal, idiomatic expression, not unusually literal.