Taking a coffee break at work | Learn German in English

Sentence explanations

1. Ich kann mich nicht mehr gut konzentrieren.

   I am losing focus.

   Ich kann

   I can

   mich

   myself

   nicht mehr

   no longer

   gut

   well

   konzentrieren

   focus; concentrate

   More detail

   Ich kann uses the modal verb können (“can, be able to”) in the first-person singular present form kann. Here it expresses the speaker’s current ability or capacity. With a modal verb, the other verb stays in the infinitive and goes to the end of the clause: Ich kann ... konzentrieren. mich is the first-person singular reflexive pronoun in the accusative form. It refers back to the speaker, and it is required by the reflexive verb sich konzentrieren (“to concentrate”). The form changes with the person: ich konzentriere mich, du konzentrierst dich, sie konzentriert sich. nicht mehr means “no longer” or “not anymore.” nicht supplies the negation, while mehr changes it into a statement that the situation has ceased to hold. Here it applies to the speaker’s ability to concentrate well, not to the existence of concentration in general. gut is an adverb here, modifying konzentrieren: the speaker cannot concentrate effectively or well. The adjective gut has the comparative besser (“better”) and superlative am besten (“best”); as an adverb, it can be used in the same way: Ich schlafe gut — “I sleep well.” konzentrieren is the infinitive in the reflexive expression sich konzentrieren (“to concentrate”). The infinitive itself does not show the subject’s person or number; those are shown by the finite verb when the verb is conjugated: ich konzentriere mich, wir konzentrieren uns. Together, Ich kann mich nicht mehr gut konzentrieren means “I can no longer concentrate well.” The modal kann expresses the speaker’s current capacity, mich ... konzentrieren forms the reflexive action, and nicht mehr gut says that doing this effectively is no longer possible. In the fixed translation, this is naturally rendered as “I am losing focus.”

2. Lass uns weggehen und Kaffee holen.

   Let's step away and get coffee.

   Lass uns

   let's

   weggehen

   go away

   Kaffee

   coffee

   holen

   get

   More detail

   Lass uns is a reusable way to suggest a joint action: “let’s …”. Lass is the informal singular imperative of lassen (“let”); uns means “us” and marks the group included in the action. The verb after this construction stays in the infinitive: Lass uns warten. — “Let’s wait.” weggehen means “to go away” or “to leave”. It is a separable verb: in a finite main clause, weg can separate from gehen, as in Wir gehen weg. — “We are leaving.” After Lass uns, however, the infinitive remains together: Lass uns weggehen. Kaffee is the noun “coffee”. German nouns are capitalized. Here it is the thing to be obtained; the form does not show a plural because the sentence presents coffee as an uncounted substance or drink. holen means “to fetch” or “to get”, often with the idea of going somewhere and bringing or obtaining something. Its infinitive follows Lass uns, just like weggehen: Lass uns Wasser holen. — “Let’s get some water.” Together, Lass uns weggehen und Kaffee holen has the pattern Lass uns + infinitive und infinitive. The two infinitives name coordinated actions carried out by the group: “Let’s step away and get coffee.”

3. Eine kurze Pause klingt hilfreich.

   A short break sounds helpful.

   Eine

   a

   kurze

   short

   Pause

   break

   klingt

   sounds

   hilfreich

   helpful

   More detail

   Eine is the indefinite article used with the feminine singular noun Pause here. It marks an unspecified break, but it does not by itself assert a numerical count. In this noun phrase, Eine kurze Pause is the subject, so it appears in the nominative. kurze comes from the adjective kurz (“short”). It describes Pause and takes the ending -e in this feminine singular nominative noun phrase after eine: eine kurze Pause. Compare the basic form kurz with the inflected form kurze in this position. Pause means “break” or “pause.” Its plural is Pausen. The phrase eine Pause is reusable for referring to an unspecified break, as in Wir machen eine Pause. — “We are taking a break.” klingt is the third-person singular present form of klingen (“to sound”). The form matches the singular subject Eine kurze Pause: Eine kurze Pause klingt .... German uses klingen both for literal sounds and, as here, for how something seems or comes across. For example, Das klingt gut. means “That sounds good.” hilfreich means “helpful.” Here it is a predicative adjective after klingt, so it has no adjective ending: klingt hilfreich, not an attributive form directly before a noun. In eine hilfreiche Pause, by contrast, hilfreich stands before the feminine noun and is inflected as hilfreiche. Together, Eine kurze Pause provides the singular subject, klingt says how that subject seems, and hilfreich describes the impression. The complete meaning is “A short break sounds helpful.”

4. Wir können uns strecken, bevor wir uns wieder hinsetzen.

   We can stretch before we sit down again.

   Wir können

   we can

   uns strecken

   stretch

   bevor

   before

   wieder

   again

   hinsetzen

   sit down

   More detail

   Wir können means “we can” here. können is the modal verb können (“can, be able to”); with wir, its present-tense form is können. A modal verb is followed by another verb in the infinitive: Wir können warten. — “We can wait.” Here, it presents stretching as something the speakers can do, without expressing a requirement. uns strecken means “stretch” with uns referring back to the subject wir. strecken is the base form, and uns is the first-person plural reflexive pronoun used when the people stretching are the same people as the subject. Compare Wir strecken uns. — “We stretch.” With the modal verb, strecken stays in the infinitive after können: Wir können uns strecken. — “We can stretch.” bevor introduces a time clause meaning “before.” In this sentence, the stretching is presented as happening before the later action of sitting down. In a clause introduced by bevor, the finite verb goes to the end: Bevor wir gehen, trinken wir Kaffee. — “Before we leave, we drink coffee.” wieder means “again” and indicates a return to an earlier or usual action. It modifies the action of sitting down here; it does not mean “before” or form part of the verb hinsetzen. hinsetzen means “sit down” in this reflexive use. The separable verb is written as one word in its base form hinsetzen; in a main clause, it separates: Wir setzen uns hin. — “We sit down.” After a modal verb, the infinitive stays together: Wir können uns hinsetzen. — “We can sit down.” In the supplied bevor clause, hinsetzen is the finite present-tense form for wir, and it is written together at the end because subordinate-clause verbs are final. This form happens to look the same as the infinitive. The reflexive uns is used because the people sitting down are the same people as the subject. Together, Wir können uns strecken gives “we can stretch.” The time clause bevor wir uns wieder hinsetzen gives “before we sit down again.” Thus the complete utterance means: “We can stretch before we sit down again.”

5. Sollen wir nach dem Kaffee mit dem Bericht weitermachen?

   Should we return to the report after coffee?

   Sollen wir

   Should we

   nach dem Kaffee

   after coffee

   Kaffee

   coffee

   mit dem Bericht

   with the report

   Bericht

   report

   weitermachen

   continue; resume

   More detail

   Sollen wir begins a yes/no question. sollen is the present-tense form of sollen for wir; here it asks whether the speakers should do something, rather than stating that they must. In a main-clause question, the conjugated modal comes first and the subject follows: Sollen wir ...? — “Should we ...?” nach dem Kaffee gives the time reference “after coffee.” In this temporal use, nach takes the dative case, so masculine der Kaffee appears as dem Kaffee. The same noun has these useful forms: der Kaffee (nominative), des Kaffees (genitive), dem Kaffee (dative), den Kaffee (accusative). Here, Kaffee refers to the coffee break or coffee time in the intended reading, not to a stated quantity. mit dem Bericht means “with the report” and identifies what the activity is resumed with or directed toward. mit also takes the dative case, which is why masculine der Bericht becomes dem Bericht. The noun’s case forms include der Bericht, des Berichts, dem Bericht, and den Bericht. Bericht means a report or written account; its meaning here is the report already understood by the speakers, without adding details about its content. weitermachen means “continue” or “resume.” It is a separable verb built from weiter and the verb machen; its infinitive is written as one word, weitermachen. In a finite main clause, the prefix separates: Wir machen mit dem Bericht weiter. — “We continue with the report.” This differs from the observed infinitive, which remains together at the end of the question after the modal sollen. Together, Sollen wir asks about a joint action, nach dem Kaffee places that action after coffee, mit dem Bericht specifies the report as its focus, and weitermachen expresses resuming the activity. The whole utterance therefore means: “Should we return to the report after coffee?”

6. Dann können wir den nächsten Teil fertig machen.

   We can finish the next part then.

   Dann

   then

   können wir

   we can

   den

   the

   nächsten

   next

   Teil

   part

   fertig machen

   finish

   More detail

   Dann means “then” here, placing the possible action after the earlier activity. German dann can also mean “in that case” in other contexts, but that is not the intended meaning here. können wir combines können (“can/be able to”) with wir (“we”). With wir, können is the first-person plural present form of the modal verb können. The modal places the other verb at the end in the infinitive: Wir können anfangen. — “We can start.” den is the definite article “the” for a masculine singular noun in the accusative case. The case marks the direct object of machen; this article is not a quantity marker. nächsten means “next” here. The adjective’s base form is nächst; nächsten is its weak accusative masculine singular form in den nächsten Teil. The masculine singular accusative conditions come from the noun phrase, while the definite article den marks those features and the adjective takes the weak ending -en. Example: Ich nehme den nächsten Zug. — “I’ll take the next train.” Teil means “part” or “section.” It is a masculine noun, and its plural is Teile. For example, die nächsten Teile means “the next parts.” fertig machen is the reusable expression “finish” or “make finished.” Here machen is the lexical verb and fertig describes the resulting state. With the modal können, the expression remains at the end in the infinitive: Wir können den Bericht fertig machen. — “We can finish the report.” In a finite clause, the parts can be separated: Ich mache die Aufgabe fertig. — “I finish the task.” Together, Dann sets the time, können wir expresses the participants’ ability or possibility, den nächsten Teil names the masculine singular object “the next part,” and fertig machen expresses completing it. The whole utterance therefore means: “We can finish the next part then.”

7. Ich speichere die Datei, bevor wir gehen.

   I will save the file before we leave.

   speichere

   save

   Datei

   file

   bevor

   before

   wir

   we

   gehen

   leave

   More detail

   speichere is the first-person singular present form of speichern, “to save.” With the subject ich (“I”), the sentence says “I save”; in this time context, German present tense can refer to a planned future action, so the fixed translation naturally uses “I will save.” Example: Ich speichere den Bericht. — “I save the report.” Datei means “file.” Its form here is die Datei: Datei is a feminine noun, and die is the corresponding definite article in the accusative singular. The article and noun together identify the file as a specific object, while the noun itself remains Datei in this form. bevor means “before” and introduces a subordinate time clause. The event in that clause is used as the time boundary for the main action. Example: Ich esse, bevor ich gehe. — “I eat before I leave.” wir means “we,” the first-person plural subject of the subordinate clause. It identifies the people who perform the action in that clause; the supplied translation supports “we,” but does not specify who else belongs to this group. gehen means “go” or, in this context, “leave.” Here it is the finite present-tense form used with wir; it happens to have the same spelling as the infinitive gehen. In the bevor clause, the finite verb comes at the end: bevor wir gehen. In a main clause, wir gehen means “we go” or “we leave.” The main clause is Ich speichere die Datei: “I save the file.” The time clause bevor wir gehen adds when this happens: “before we leave.” Together, Ich speichere die Datei, bevor wir gehen. means “I will save the file before we leave.”

8. Speichere sie jetzt, damit wir nichts verlieren.

   Save it now, so we do not lose anything.

   Speichere

   save

   sie

   it

   jetzt

   now

   damit wir

   so that we

   nichts

   nothing

   verlieren

   lose

   More detail

   Speichere means “save” here. It is the second-person singular imperative of speichern (“to save”), used to give a direct instruction to one person. The present-tense form for “I save” is ich speichere; the imperative changes the form and omits the subject. Example: Speichere die Datei! — “Save the file!” sie is the accusative pronoun meaning “it” in this sentence. The fixed translation and the preceding context identify the referent as die Datei (“the file”), which is feminine in German; the pronoun agrees with that noun’s grammatical gender and is the object of speichere. German sie can also have other functions in other contexts, but its intended meaning here is “it.” jetzt means “now” and places the requested action in the present time. Example: Wir beginnen jetzt. — “We are starting now.” damit wir introduces a purpose clause: “so that we.” damit connects the main instruction with its intended purpose, while wir is the first-person plural subject, “we.” In a damit clause, the finite verb normally goes to the end. Example: Sprich langsam, damit wir dich verstehen. — “Speak slowly so that we can understand you.” nichts means “nothing” and functions here as the object of verlieren. It is a negative indefinite pronoun, not simply the word nicht (“not”). Example: Ich sehe nichts. — “I see nothing.” verlieren means “lose” here. In this sentence it is the finite present-tense form for wir (first-person plural) of the strong verb verlieren, not an infinitive. Its form happens to be identical to the infinitive: wir verlieren — “we lose” or “we are losing.” It appears at the end because it is the finite verb in the subordinate damit clause. Example: Wir verlieren nichts. — “We lose nothing.” Together, Speichere sie jetzt gives the instruction “Save it now.” damit wir nichts verlieren adds the purpose “so that we do not lose anything”; the negative meaning is expressed by nichts, literally “nothing.” The complete utterance is therefore: “Save it now, so we do not lose anything.”