Ohne Fieberthermometer weiß ich nicht, ob ich Fieber habe.

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Breakdown of Ohne Fieberthermometer weiß ich nicht, ob ich Fieber habe.

• nicht: not
• haben: to have
• ob: whether

Questions & Answers about Ohne Fieberthermometer weiß ich nicht, ob ich Fieber habe.

Why does the sentence start with Ohne Fieberthermometer?

German often places a time, place, or condition phrase at the beginning of a sentence for emphasis or style.

Here, Ohne Fieberthermometer means without a thermometer, and it sets the condition for the whole sentence.

The basic idea is:

• Ohne Fieberthermometer = without a thermometer
• weiß ich nicht = I don’t know
• ob ich Fieber habe = whether I have a fever

Starting with Ohne Fieberthermometer puts the focus on the fact that not having a thermometer is the reason for the uncertainty.

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Why is the word order weiß ich nicht and not ich weiß nicht?

Because German main clauses follow the verb-second rule.

That means the conjugated verb must come in the second position. If something other than the subject comes first, the verb still stays second, and the subject moves after it.

So:

• Normal order: Ich weiß nicht ...
• With a phrase moved to the front: Ohne Fieberthermometer weiß ich nicht ...

Structure:

• Ohne Fieberthermometer = position 1
• weiß = position 2
• ich = then the subject

This is very common in German.

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What case does ohne take?