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- Topic: German >
- "Ohne Mietwagen geht es auch."
37 Comments
414
I had no clue what this sentence was saying. But then I saw the English translation, and I still have no clue.
Probably it's just a randomly generated sentence. But if you really need to make sense out of it, one could postulate a context like this:
"Where are you going on vacation?"
"Oh, back of beyond. I like it there. We rent a car and drive to a lodge on the edge."
"I hate to drive outside of the city, so I guess that wouldn't work for me."
"Oh, the public transportation there is marvelous. You could still have a great trip. It also works without a rental car."
658
Expecting anyone to know what "it" means without the earlier sentence that explained it is guaranteed to confuse. If you cannot grasp the idea in the original language, you cannot convey it, or check that the hearer has understood, in any other. No matter how you treat the string of individual words.
The short answer is that the verb always goes in the second position. "Mietwagen" is in the first position, along with its modifier "ohne". Then comes the verb "geht", and the rest of the sentence after: es auch. I don't know if it could be rewritten as, "Es geht ohne Mietwagen auch", but I think it can. The reason for switching the subject and verb placement is usually emphasis, so the speaker wants to emphasize "Mietwagen", rather than "es". Hope this helps!