Reading · A1 · Text 19

Hugenotten

34 words1 min read71% known at A1

Lange Zeit sprachen die Hugenotten Französisch, zumindest in der Familie.

For a long time, the Huguenots spoke French, at least within the family.

Erst in den Jahren nach 1800 gingen die meisten zum Deutschen über.

Only in the years after 1800 did most of them switch to German.

Noch heute gibt es Deutsche mit französischen Nachnamen, weil ihre Vorfahren Hugenotten waren.

Even today there are Germans with French surnames because their ancestors were Huguenots.

8 words above A1

lange← lang

long (here: a long time) attributive form before feminine noun 'Zeit' long; lengthy (in space or time); tall; many (indicating the length of the time in total) A2/laŋ(k)/

meisten← meist

most (here: most people) superlative form, used as noun (die meisten)

zumindest

at least B2/t͡suˈmɪndəst/

Französisch

French (language) capitalized as noun

Vorfahren← der Vorfahr

ancestor plural form

französischen← französisch

French (descriptive) declined adjective, dative plural after 'mit'

Nachnamen← der Nachname

surname plural form, dative plural after 'mit'

Hugenotten← der Hugenott

Huguenot (French Protestant) proper name, plural form

Grammar in this text

Inversion after adverbial phrase

Lange Zeit sprachen die Hugenotten Französisch

When a sentence begins with an adverbial (Lange Zeit), the finite verb comes before the subject. This is German's verb-second rule.

Separable verb in main clause

Erst in den Jahren nach 1800 gingen die meisten zum Deutschen über.

The separable verb 'übergehen' has its prefix 'über' moved to the end of the main clause. The finite verb 'gingen' appears in second position.

Subordinate clause with 'weil' (verb-final)

weil ihre Vorfahren Hugenotten waren.

In a weil-clause, the conjugated verb goes to the very end of the clause. Here 'waren' is placed after the subject and predicate noun.

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Text from Hugenotten — Klexikon, used under CC BY-SA 4.0. See sources.

Translation, glossary and grammar notes are machine-generated and inherit the same licence.