Mein Bruder hat eine Vollzeitstelle in einer Firma bekommen und gestern seinen Arbeitsvertrag unterschrieben.

My brother has got a full‑time position in a company and signed his employment contract yesterday.

Breakdown of Mein Bruder hat eine Vollzeitstelle in einer Firma bekommen und gestern seinen Arbeitsvertrag unterschrieben.

• und: and
• in: in
• haben: to have
• Gestern: yesterday
• sein: his
• mein: my
• der Bruder: the brother
• bekommen: to get
• eine: a; (feminine, accusative)
• unterschreiben: to sign
• die Firma: the company
• einer: a; (feminine, dative)
• die Vollzeitstelle: the full‑time position
• der Arbeitsvertrag: the employment contract

Questions & Answers about Mein Bruder hat eine Vollzeitstelle in einer Firma bekommen und gestern seinen Arbeitsvertrag unterschrieben.

Why does the sentence use hat … bekommen instead of a simple past like bekam?

German has two main past tenses for completed actions:

• Perfekt (spoken past): Mein Bruder hat … bekommen.
• Präteritum (simple past): Mein Bruder bekam …

In everyday spoken German, the Perfekt is used far more often, especially with verbs like bekommen. So:

• Mein Bruder hat eine Vollzeitstelle bekommen.
  ≈ “My brother got a full-time position.”

In written, especially more formal or narrative texts, Präteritum is more common:

• Mein Bruder bekam eine Vollzeitstelle.

So the sentence is phrased in a natural, conversational way by using hat … bekommen.

What exactly does bekommen mean here? Is it like English “become”?

No. This is a classic “false friend.”

• bekommen in German = to get / to receive

  • Ich habe eine E‑Mail bekommen. – “I got an email.”
  • Er hat die Stelle bekommen. – “He got the position.”

• to become in German = werden

  • Er wird müde. – “He is becoming tired.”
  • Sie möchte Ärztin werden. – “She wants to become a doctor.”

So in the sentence, hat … bekommen means “got/received a full-time position,” not “became a full-time position.”

Why is it eine Vollzeitstelle and not something like ein Vollzeitjob?

Both are possible in German, but they feel slightly different:

• die Stelle

  • more formal/neutral, common in job contexts, contracts, HR language
  • often translates to “position” or “post”
  • eine Vollzeitstelle = a full-time position

• der Job

  • more informal/colloquial
  • often a less formal or temporary job, side job, student job
  • ein Vollzeitjob = a full-time job (more casual wording)

In a sentence that also mentions Arbeitsvertrag (employment contract), the slightly more formal Vollzeitstelle fits very naturally. Grammatically, Stelle is feminine, which is why we have eine Vollzeitstelle (not ein).

Why is it in einer Firma and not in eine Firma?

The preposition in can take either dative or accusative, depending on the meaning:

• Accusative (movement into something): Wohin?

  • Er geht in die Firma. – “He goes into the company/office.”

• Dative (location / being in something): Wo?

  • Er arbeitet in der Firma. – “He works in the company.”

In the sentence, your brother is not moving into the company; he has a position there. It’s about location, so you use dative:

• in einer Firma (feminine dative: einer from eine)

Why do we say in einer Firma and not bei einer Firma?

Both in and bei can be used with employers, but they are slightly different:

• bei einer Firma arbeiten
  Very common to talk about working for a company:

  • Er arbeitet bei Siemens.
  • Er hat eine Stelle bei einer Firma bekommen.

• in einer Firma arbeiten
  Emphasizes more literally “inside a company/firm,” but is also used.

In many contexts, bei einer Firma actually sounds a bit more idiomatic when talking about employment. So you could rephrase naturally as:

• Mein Bruder hat eine Vollzeitstelle bei einer Firma bekommen …

The original in einer Firma is grammatically correct and understandable; it just has a slightly more “physical location” flavor.

Why is it einer Firma and not eine Firma?

Because of case and gender:

• Firma is feminine: die Firma
• After in with a location meaning (Wo?), you use dative:
  • feminine dative of eine = einer

So the forms look like:

• Nominative: eine Firma
• Accusative: eine Firma
• Dative: einer Firma

Since the sentence means “in a company” (location), we need the dative → in einer Firma.

Why does seinen Arbeitsvertrag use seinen and not sein or seinem?

Again, this is about case and gender:

1. Arbeitsvertrag is masculine: der Arbeitsvertrag.

2. The verb unterschreiben takes a direct object in the accusative:

   • jemanden / etwas unterschreiben → “to sign someone/something”
   • Er unterschreibt den Arbeitsvertrag. – “He signs the contract.”

3. The masculine forms of sein (his) are:

   • Nominative: sein Arbeitsvertrag
   • Accusative: seinen Arbeitsvertrag
   • Dative: seinem Arbeitsvertrag

Since Arbeitsvertrag is the direct object being signed, we need accusative:

• seinen Arbeitsvertrag unterschrieben – “signed his employment contract.”

Why is the word order … bekommen und gestern seinen Arbeitsvertrag unterschrieben and not … bekommen und hat gestern seinen Arbeitsvertrag unterschrieben?

German often omits repeated elements in coordinated structures.

Full form would be:

• Mein Bruder hat eine Vollzeitstelle in einer Firma bekommen und hat gestern seinen Arbeitsvertrag unterschrieben.

The second “hat” is the same auxiliary with the same subject, so it can be left out to avoid repetition:

• … hat eine Vollzeitstelle … bekommen und gestern seinen Arbeitsvertrag unterschrieben.

Native speakers do this a lot when two actions share the same subject and auxiliary. Grammatically, the hat is still “understood” for the second verb.

Why is gestern in the middle of the second part and not at the very end?

In main clauses, the default internal order is often described as:

Time – Manner – Place – (other stuff) – Verb (Participle)

In your second action, we have:

• gestern – time
• seinen Arbeitsvertrag – object
• unterschrieben – participle

So:

• … und gestern seinen Arbeitsvertrag unterschrieben.

is a perfectly natural order (Time → Object → Participle).

You could move gestern to other positions for emphasis or style:

• Gestern hat mein Bruder … unterschrieben. (strong emphasis on “yesterday”)
• … und hat seinen Arbeitsvertrag gestern unterschrieben. (possible, but a bit less neutral)

The given sentence uses a standard, natural position for gestern.

Why is Arbeitsvertrag one word? Could it be Arbeits Vertrag?

German loves compound nouns: two (or more) nouns glued together to form one specific concept.

• Arbeit (work) + Vertrag (contract) → Arbeitsvertrag (employment contract)

Writing it as Arbeits Vertrag is incorrect; it must be one word. Spelling it together also changes the meaning from a random “work” and a random “contract” to the specific legal concept of an employment contract.

Why is the past participle unterschrieben and not untergeschrieben or unterschriebt?

unterschreiben is an irregular verb, so its participle is not formed with a simple ge- prefix.

• infinitive: unterschreiben
• simple past: er unterschrieb
• past participle: unterschrieben

Patterns to notice:

• Verbs with an inseparable prefix (like unter- in unterschreiben) do not take ge-:
  • verstehen → verstanden
  • bekommen → bekommen
  • unterschreiben → unterschrieben

So forms like untergeschrieben or unterschriebt are incorrect for the participle. The correct one used with haben in the Perfekt is:

• hat … unterschrieben – “has signed / signed.”

Why are some words capitalized, like Bruder, Vollzeitstelle, Firma, Arbeitsvertrag?

In German, all nouns are capitalized, no matter where they appear in the sentence:

• Mein Bruder – Bruder (brother) is a noun → capitalized.
• eine Vollzeitstelle – Stelle (position) is a noun → capitalized.
• in einer Firma – Firma (company) is a noun → capitalized.
• seinen Arbeitsvertrag – Vertrag (contract) is a noun → the whole compound Arbeitsvertrag is capitalized.

Adjectives, verbs, and other parts of speech are normally not capitalized (except at the beginning of a sentence or in special cases like nouns made from verbs).