"Tomorrow, Duo visits his friend, the king."
Translation:Morgen besucht Duo seinen Freund, den König.
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Why not "Morgen, Duo besucht..." rather than "Morgen besucht Duo..."?
That's not how we say it in German.
The time specification Morgen is part of the sentence (not separated from it by a comma), takes up the first position if you want to put it first and so the verb has to follow it immediately in order to be in the second position where it belongs.
Thanks, this one confused me. This often comes up with commas in German vs. English. In English, the comma usage does have some meaning, even if it doesn't change the actual content of the sentence. It can really change the tone or pace of a sentence. So, is there a parallel way to set "morgen" apart in this sentence? For example, these two English sentences are quite different, though the meaning could be the same:
"Tomorrow, Duo visits his friend, the king." "Duo visits his friend, the king, tomorrow."
A better example might be something like this:
"Tomorrow, I will go to the store." "I will go to the store tomorrow."
One is a bit more abrupt, and the other is slower paced. Isn't there a way to make this distinction in German?
One is a bit more abrupt, and the other is slower paced. Isn't there a way to make this distinction in German?
No, not in the same way.
You can say Morgen gehe ich ins Geschäft and Ich gehe morgen ins Geschäft, or Morgen besucht Duo seinen Freund, den König and Duo besucht morgen seinen Freund, den König, but neither of those is abrupt.
Putting the adverb first marks it as the topic ("I'm going to tell you what will happen tomorrow:") but it's still part of the sentence structure, there is no comma, and no sense of abruptness or change of pace.
1446
can you not say "seinen freund, DER König" because der König is like a separate sentence meaning who is the king?
No, it is an apposition and has to be in the same case as the word it refers to,
"his friend, the king" (seinen Freund, den König) should stay together.
Duo besucht seinen Freund, den König, morgen. I think this is also right.
Duo besucht seinen Freund, den König, morgen. I think this is also right.
Time expressions such as morgen generally come right after the verb in German -- not at the end of the sentence as in English.
We apparently have two accusative objects here although the comma is substituting for 'den der Koenig ist'; this makes the king nominative. I want to get this right please!
We apparently have two accusative objects here
No -- it's just one: seinen Freund, den König.
Those aren't two different people; that entire group of words refers to just one person.
Much like sentences such as "I will tell your brother Joe" does not have two objects -- "Joe" and "your brother" refer to the same person. It's just one noun phrase in apposition to another one.
although the comma is substituting for 'den der Koenig ist'
den der König ist is not grammatical; it would have to be, if anything, der der König ist.
Lumme. Thanks for coming back so promptly and helpfully. Grammar knots take some untying.