Breakdown of Bitte drück die Türklinke langsam herunter.
langsam
slowly
bitte
please
die
the; (feminine, nominative or accusative)
herunterdrücken
to press down
Questions & Answers about Bitte drück die Türklinke langsam herunter.
Why is it drück and not drücken or drückst?
drück is the imperative form, used to give a command to du.
The verb is drücken = to press.
For the du command, German usually drops the -st ending, so:
- du drückst = you press
- drück! = press!
You may also see drücke! in more careful or formal written German, but drück! is very common in everyday speech.
So:
- Bitte drück ... = Please press ...
Why is herunter separated from drück?
Because the full verb is herunterdrücken, which is a separable verb.
In many sentence types, separable verbs split into:
- the main verb part in the normal verb position
- the prefix at the end
So:
- infinitive: herunterdrücken
- command: Drück ... herunter!
This is very common in German:
- aufmachen → Mach die Tür auf!
- anmachen → Mach das Licht an!
- herunterdrücken → Drück die Türklinke herunter!
What exactly does herunterdrücken mean here?