Reading · B1 · Text 5
Tauben
Früher brachte man die Tauben weg von ihrem Zuhause.
In the past, people took pigeons away from their homes.
Dann band man ihnen eine Nachricht an ein Bein.
Then they tied a message to one of their legs.
Die Taube flog dann mit der Nachricht nach Hause.
The pigeon then flew home with the message.
7 words above B1
Grammar in this text
Simple past tense (Präteritum) of irregular verbs
Früher brachte man die Tauben weg von ihrem Zuhause.
The text uses the simple past tense (Präteritum) for narrative, especially with irregular verbs like 'bringen' (brachte), 'binden' (band), and 'fliegen' (flog). This tense is common in written German to describe past events.
Use of the impersonal pronoun 'man'
Dann band man ihnen eine Nachricht an ein Bein.
'man' is an indefinite pronoun meaning 'one' or 'you' in a general sense. It is used to make general statements about what people do, without specifying who. The verb is conjugated in the third person singular.
Separable verb 'wegbringen' in a main clause
Früher brachte man die Tauben weg von ihrem Zuhause.
The verb 'wegbringen' (to take away) is separable. In a main clause, the prefix 'weg' is separated and placed at the end of the sentence, while the conjugated part 'brachte' stays in second position.
Dative pronoun 'ihnen' as indirect object
Dann band man ihnen eine Nachricht an ein Bein.
The dative pronoun 'ihnen' (to them) is used as the indirect object, indicating to whom or for whom something is done. Here, it shows that the message is tied to the pigeons (them).
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Text from Tauben — Klexikon, used under CC BY-SA 4.0. See sources.
Translation, glossary and grammar notes are machine-generated and inherit the same licence.