Practicing a sentence again | Learn German in English

Sentence explanations

1. Kannst du das noch einmal sagen?

   Can you say that again?

   Kannst du

   Can you

   das

   that

   noch einmal

   again

   sagen

   say

   More detail

   Kannst du means “can you” here. kannst is the second-person singular present form of können (“to be able to; can”), used with du (“you”). In a question, the conjugated modal verb comes before the subject: Kannst du ...? — “Can you ...?” The following lexical verb stays in the infinitive. das means “that” here and refers to the thing being said again. It is the demonstrative pronoun form used for a neuter singular referent in this object position; its exact referent is supplied by the situation rather than by the sentence itself. Compare Das ist gut. (“That is good.”) and Ich höre das. (“I hear that.”) noch einmal is a reusable expression meaning “again” or “one more time.” noch adds the sense of continuation or an additional occurrence, while einmal means “once” in this expression. The same expression appears in the next sentence: Ich sage es noch einmal. — “I will say it one more time.” sagen means “to say” or “to tell” and is the base form (infinitive). After the modal kannst, it remains at the end of the question: Kannst du das sagen? — “Can you say that?” In the supplied next sentence, the first-person form sage comes from the same base verb sagen. Together, Kannst du forms a request about ability, das identifies what should be repeated, noch einmal adds repetition, and sagen names the requested action. The complete utterance therefore means “Can you say that again?”

2. Ich sage es noch einmal.

   I will say it one more time.

   Ich

   I

   sage

   say

   es

   it

   noch einmal

   one more time

   More detail

   Ich is the first-person singular subject pronoun, meaning “I.” It is the nominative form used for the person performing the action. Compare Ich sage ... (“I say ...”) with Du sagst ... (“You say ...”); du is the informal singular “you” pronoun. sage is the first-person singular present-tense form of sagen, “to say.” The useful form chain is ich sage, du sagst, er/sie sagt. These forms use different endings, but the verb stem sag- remains the same. German present tense can refer to a future action when the context makes that clear, as it does in the fixed translation here. es means “it” here and is the accusative object of sage: it is what is being said. The form es is also used as nominative for a neuter subject, so its spelling alone does not distinguish those cases; its role in this sentence comes from the sentence structure. noch einmal is a reusable expression meaning “again” or “one more time.” It marks a repetition. Example: Bitte sag das noch einmal. — “Please say that again.” Together, Ich sage es means “I will say it” in this context, and noch einmal adds the idea that this will happen one more time. The whole utterance means: “I will say it one more time.”

3. Jetzt verstehe ich es.

   Now I understand.

   Jetzt

   now

   verstehe

   understand

   ich

   I

   es

   it

   More detail

   Jetzt means “now” and places the understanding in the present moment. It can also occur in other positions, but here it is the first element for emphasis or time framing. verstehe is the first-person singular present form of verstehen, “to understand”: ich verstehe = “I understand.” The verb is irregular in some forms, so learn this form with its subject rather than deriving it from a regular pattern. Example: Ich verstehe die Frage. — “I understand the question.” ich is the first-person singular pronoun, “I.” In this sentence it is the subject, the person who understands. Because Jetzt occupies the first position, the finite verb comes next and the subject follows: Jetzt verstehe ich .... This is a common German main-clause pattern in which the finite verb remains in second position. es is the neuter singular accusative pronoun, “it,” used here as the object of verstehe. Its specific referent is understood from the surrounding meaning, but the sentence itself does not identify it more precisely. Example: Ich sehe es. — “I see it.” Together, Jetzt + verstehe + ich + es means “Now I understand it.” The structure is a time element in first position, followed by the finite verb, then the subject, and finally the object pronoun. The fixed translation gives the intended present understanding without adding any further claim about what es refers to.

4. Wir üben den Satz zusammen.

   Let's practice the sentence together.

   Wir

   we

   üben

   practice

   Satz

   sentence

   zusammen

   together

   More detail

   Wir means “we”: a first-person plural pronoun for the speaker together with at least one other person. Its form does not identify exactly how many people are included. Compare ich (“I”) for the speaker alone. üben is the base form “to practise/practice.” Here üben is the present-tense form with wir; German uses the same form as the infinitive for this subject: wir üben. Compare ich übe (“I practise”) and sie üben (“they practise”). Example: Wir üben Deutsch. — “We practise German.” Satz means “sentence.” In den Satz, the noun is masculine singular and appears in the accusative because it is the direct object of üben; the masculine definite article changes from nominative der Satz to accusative den Satz. The plural is die Sätze. Example: Ich lese den Satz. — “I read the sentence.” zusammen means “together.” It indicates that the people included in wir carry out the practice jointly. It is an adverb and does not change for person or number. Example: Wir lernen zusammen. — “We study together.” The chunks combine as Wir üben den Satz zusammen. The subject wir is followed by the present-tense verb üben, then the direct object den Satz, and finally the adverb zusammen. Together, they mean “Let's practice the sentence together.” The English “let’s” expresses the suggested joint action represented in German by the first-person plural subject wir.

5. Der erste Teil ist für mich noch schwer.

   The first part is still hard for me.

   erste

   first

   Teil

   part

   für mich

   for me

   noch

   still

   schwer

   hard

   More detail

   erste means “first” here and is the inflected form of erst. In der erste Teil, erste describes a masculine singular noun in the nominative after the definite article der, so the adjective has the ending -e. Compare der erste Teil (“the first part”) with der zweite Teil (“the second part”). Teil means “part” or “section.” Its base form is Teil; the plural is Teile. For example: Dieser Teil ist leicht. — “This part is easy.” für mich means “for me.” für takes the accusative case, and the first-person pronoun is mich in the accusative; its nominative form is ich. For example: Das ist für mich. — “That is for me.” noch means “still” in this sentence. It presents the difficulty as continuing at the relevant time: the part remains hard for the speaker. For example: Der Text ist noch schwer. — “The text is still difficult.” schwer means “hard” or “difficult” here. It is a predicative adjective after ist, so it does not take an adjective ending: Der Teil ist schwer. — “The part is difficult.” Its opposite in this sense is leicht (“easy”): Der Teil ist leicht. — “The part is easy.” Together, Der erste Teil is the subject, ist is the third-person singular present form of sein (“to be”), für mich identifies the person for whom the assessment applies, and noch schwer says that the difficulty continues. The whole utterance therefore means: “The first part is still hard for me.”

6. Wir können diesen Teil langsam üben.

   We can practice that part slowly.

   Wir können

   we can

   diesen

   this

   Teil

   part

   langsam

   slowly

   üben

   practice

   More detail

   Wir können means “we can” here. können is the modal verb “can/be able to”; in the present tense, wir können is the first-person plural form. A modal verb is followed by another verb in the infinitive, usually placed at the end of the clause: Wir können das üben. — “We can practise that.” diesen means “that/this” in the fixed translation. It is the masculine singular accusative form of the demonstrative determiner dies-, because it modifies Teil as the direct object of üben. The forms vary with grammatical gender, case, and number; for example, diese Übung is feminine singular, while dieses Beispiel is neuter singular. The demonstrative identifies the relevant part without changing the noun’s meaning. Teil means “part” here. Its base form is der Teil; the plural is die Teile. In this sentence, Teil is masculine singular and is the object being practised. Teil can also mean a component or section in other contexts, depending on what is being divided. langsam means “slowly” in this sentence because it describes how the practice happens. The adjective is used adverbially here, so it does not take an ending: Wir üben langsam. — “We practise slowly.” As an adjective before a noun, it can take an ending: ein langsamer Schritt — “a slow step.” üben means “to practise.” This is the infinitive form, required at the end because können is the modal verb: Wir können ... üben. Its present-tense first-person plural form without a modal is wir üben: “we practise.” It is different from lernen, which generally means “to learn” or “study”; üben focuses on practising a skill or material. Together, Wir können sets up the ability or possibility, diesen Teil identifies the part being practised, langsam specifies the manner, and final üben completes the modal construction. The whole utterance means: “We can practice that part slowly.”