Word
Im April regnet es manchmal, aber der Garten wird wieder grün.
Meaning
In April it sometimes rains, but the garden becomes green again.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Im April regnet es manchmal, aber der Garten wird wieder grün.
in
in
dem
the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
grün
green
aber
but
Questions & Answers about Im April regnet es manchmal, aber der Garten wird wieder grün.
Why does the sentence start with Im April instead of the subject?
German main clauses follow the verb-second rule: the finite verb must be in the second position.
So in:
Im April regnet es manchmal
the first position is taken by the time expression Im April, and the verb regnet comes second.
That means the subject-like es comes after the verb.
Compare:
- Es regnet im April manchmal.
- Im April regnet es manchmal.
Both are possible, but the second one sounds more natural if you want to emphasize the time.
Why is it im April and not in April?
Im is a contraction of in dem.
- in dem April → im April
With months, German often uses in + dative article to mean in a certain month.
So:
- im April = in April
Even though English usually has no article here, German commonly does in this structure.
What case is April in after im?