Breakdown of Wir warten am See, bis der Sonnenuntergang beginnt.
Questions & Answers about Wir warten am See, bis der Sonnenuntergang beginnt.
In German, bis can introduce a subordinate clause when it is followed by a full sentence (with its own subject and verb), like:
- bis der Sonnenuntergang beginnt
Whenever a subordinate clause follows a main clause, German normally uses a comma between them:
- Main clause: Wir warten am See
- Subordinate clause: bis der Sonnenuntergang beginnt
So the comma is required by German punctuation rules.
Bis is a subordinating conjunction (like weil, dass, wenn, obwohl). These conjunctions send the finite verb to the end of the clause.
Word order:
- Subject: der Sonnenuntergang
- Verb: beginnt
In a normal main clause, the verb would be in second position:
- Der Sonnenuntergang beginnt. — “The sunset begins.”
But in a bis-clause, the verb goes to the end:
- bis der Sonnenuntergang beginnt
So the pattern is:
- Wir warten am See, bis [Subjekt] [Rest] [Verb].
German loves compound nouns. Sonnenuntergang is made from:
- die Sonne = the sun
- der Untergang = the going down / setting / decline
Together: der Sonnenuntergang = the sunset.
Two important points:
- Compounds are written together: not Sonnen Untergang.
- All nouns are capitalized in German, including compound nouns.
So it must be Sonnenuntergang, capital S, no space.
The article shows the case of the noun.
In bis der Sonnenuntergang beginnt, Sonnenuntergang is the subject of the verb beginnt:
- Wer beginnt? → der Sonnenuntergang (Who begins? The sunset.)
The subject of a sentence is in the nominative case, and Sonnenuntergang is a masculine noun:
- Masculine nominative singular: der
- Masculine accusative singular: den
- Masculine dative singular: dem
So der is correct because it’s nominative, not accusative or dative.
Am is a contraction:
- am = an dem
So literally you have:
- Wir warten an dem See → “We are waiting at the lake.”
In normal speech and writing, an dem usually becomes am.
Meaning-wise:
- am See = at the lake / by the lake (location nearby).
An is a two-way preposition (Wechselpräposition). With these prepositions:
- Dative = location (where?)
- Accusative = direction / movement (to where?)
In this sentence we describe a place we are at, not a movement:
- Wo warten wir? → am See (at the lake) → dative: an dem See
If you described movement toward the lake, you’d use accusative:
- Wir gehen an den See.
“We’re going to the lake.” (direction → accusative)
These all involve See, but the preposition changes the picture:
am See (an dem See)
= at/by the lake (on the shore or very close)im See (in dem See)
= in the lake (physically inside the water, e.g. swimming):- Wir schwimmen im See. — We’re swimming in the lake.
auf dem See
= on the lake (on the surface, usually on a boat):- Wir fahren mit dem Boot auf dem See. — We are out on the lake in a boat.
In your sentence, am See is correct because you’re just waiting by the lake, not in the water or on a boat.
Both exist, but they are different nouns:
- der See (masculine) = the lake
- die See (feminine) = the sea (a bit poetic / formal; more common spoken word is das Meer)
In am See, we see the contraction an dem, which shows that See here is masculine → der See → lake.
So the sentence means “We wait at the lake…”, not “at the sea”.
German often uses the present tense in time clauses (introduced by wenn, wenn, bis, nachdem, bevor, sobald, etc.) even when the meaning is future.
So:
- Wir warten am See, bis der Sonnenuntergang beginnt.
literally: “We wait at the lake until the sunset begins.”
but in English: “until the sunset starts / will start.”
Using wird beginnen sounds unnatural in this kind of bis-clause. The simple present is standard for future reference in time clauses.
Yes, you can say both; both are correct:
- bis der Sonnenuntergang beginnt
- bis der Sonnenuntergang anfängt
Differences:
- beginnen is a bit more formal/neutral.
- anfangen is more colloquial/everyday.
In this sentence, they mean essentially the same: “until the sunset starts.”
Many speakers might find beginnt slightly smoother and more typical here, but anfängt is not wrong.
These two phrases answer different questions:
Wir warten auf den Sonnenuntergang.
→ What are we waiting for? → For the sunset. (warten auf- accusative = to wait for something)
Wir warten am See.
→ Where are we waiting? → At the lake. (location with an- dative)
Your sentence combines location and time limit:
- Wir warten am See, bis der Sonnenuntergang beginnt.
“We wait at the lake until the sunset begins.”
If you want to include both “what for” and “where,” you could say:
- Wir warten am See auf den Sonnenuntergang.
“We are waiting at the lake for the sunset.”
Grammatically, it’s possible, but it sounds unusual and stylistically awkward in standard German.
Normal, natural order:
- Wir warten am See, bis der Sonnenuntergang beginnt.
If you move am See to the end, it sounds like an afterthought or like you’re emphasizing am See in a strange way. In spoken German, someone might say it for emphasis, but as a neutral, standard sentence, you should keep am See inside the main clause:
- Wir warten am See, … (main clause info about where)
- … bis der Sonnenuntergang beginnt. (subordinate clause about when we stop waiting)