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- "Danach ist es sehr einfach."
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That's not used as commonly, which is probably why the course creators didn't think to provide that alternative.
It would work, though, so you can use the "Report a problem / My answer should be accepted" feature to bring that phrasing to their attention.
German verbs always have to be in the second "slot" of a main clause (such as in a simple sentence).
The first slot is often occupied by the subject, but it could also be occupied by an object or an adverb, especially a time expression as here.
Do if you put "Danach" in first position, the verb "ist" has to come immediately after it in order to be in the second position of the sentence. The subject then usually comes right after the verb if it is not in front of it.
So how would one say "Afterwards is it very easy?" instead of "Afterwards it is very easy."
I wouldn't even say "Afterwards is it very easy?" in English -- either "Is it very easy afterwards?" or "And afterwards? Is it very easy (then)?"
Similarly in German: Ist es danach sehr einfach? or Und danach? Ist es (dann) sehr einfach?
No - that would more likely be "Hinterher ist man immer schlauer" (you're always cleverer afterwards).
Also note that "danach" refers to "after that", i.e. after a specific event -- it's not completely the same as "afterwards" which can also refer to time after in general, as with your "hindsight is 20/20 afterwards" sort of context.
Wiktionary has Hinterher ist man immer klüger." It's better for me because I don't have to look up klüger*.
"Then, it is very simple" is Danach not allowed to mean "then" in this context?
I think this is an edge case. You could argue that “later” should have been später in German, and it also doesn’t make reference to some event which happens first like danach does: “after that, afterwards”. But on the other hand English does often use “later” in situations like these where it’s more natural to use “danach” than “später” in German.
I’d say report it and see what the contributors think.
Am Anfang ist es ziemlich schwer, aber danach ist es sehr einfach ......is this sentence grammatically correct? I am testing my understanding for conjunctions ....
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Does German differentiate between simple and easy? Which one most closely matches the meaning of "einfach"?
leicht would only be "easy"
einfach is theoretically "simple" but in practice can mean either "simple" or "easy".
Why does the n in "Danach" sound like an m, and the n in "einfach" sound like an n?
Because the German sentence has sehr einfach (very easy) and not so einfach (so easy).
I disagree that "after all" belongs in the same category as the others.
("after all" / schließlich I would use metaphorically -- "after all things have been considered" -- rather than literally -- "after all things have happened")
I was struggling with the meaning of danach, then Duolingo defined it as being also "in the end" and it suddenly made some sense to me. But when I put "In the end, it is very easy" I was marked wrong so I'm confused. Should this have been correct?
Danach is quite literally “after that”. It follows the da(r)- + preposition = “preposition + that” pattern you see in many similar adverbs: davon “of that”, daneben “next to that”, dafür “for that” etc.
I think it's time to accept "thereafter" for danach https://dict.leo.org/german-english/danach https://www.dict.cc/?s=Danach
A few years ago, as it was looking for a German translation of "afterwards", my brain constructed the word "nachwärts" out of "vorwärts"/"rückwärts" and "nach". This is the word it was looking for, so it seems.
No - you have to translate the sentence as a whole, not word for word, because English and German often have different word order in sentences.
In this case, German has the verb in the second position, meaning that if an adverb such as danach comes first, the subject has to come after the verb, while English no longer has this rule in general speech, so Afterwards is it ... is not correct (modern) English.
