Reading · C1 · Text 10
Wolke
Aus dem Fenster eines Flugzeugs können Wolken manchmal von Nahem betrachtet werden.
From an airplane window, clouds can sometimes be seen up close.
In einem Flugzeug reist man meist über den Wolken.
In an airplane, you usually travel above the clouds.
Denn hohe Wolken liegen in einer Höhe von ungefähr 5 bis 13 Kilometern über dem Boden.
Because high clouds are at an altitude of roughly 5 to 13 kilometers above the ground.
Moderne Passagier-Flugzeuge fliegen zwischen 9 und 12 Kilometern hoch.
Modern passenger planes fly at between 9 and 12 kilometers in altitude.
4 words above C1
Grammar in this text
Modal passive (können + past participle + werden)
Aus dem Fenster eines Flugzeugs können Wolken manchmal von Nahem betrachtet werden.
The sentence uses a passive construction with the modal verb 'können'. The structure is: finite modal verb + object + past participle ('betrachtet') + auxiliary 'werden' (in infinitive form) at the end. This expresses a possibility in the passive voice: 'clouds can be viewed'.
Dative after two-way preposition (location)
über den Wolken
'über' is a two-way preposition (Wechselpräposition). Here it is followed by the dative plural 'den Wolken' to express a static location (being above the clouds). The dative is signaled by the article 'den'.
Coordinating conjunction 'denn' with main-clause word order
Denn hohe Wolken liegen in einer Höhe von ungefähr 5 bis 13 Kilometern über dem Boden.
'denn' is a coordinating conjunction meaning 'because, since'. Unlike subordinating conjunctions such as 'weil', it does not send the finite verb to the end; the clause retains main-clause word order (subject then finite verb: 'hohe Wolken liegen').
Keep going
Text from Wolke — Klexikon, used under CC BY-SA 4.0. See sources.
Translation, glossary and grammar notes are machine-generated and inherit the same licence.