Accusative Absolute - German

German

In German, a noun phrase can be put in the accusative to indicate that the subject of the sentence has the property described. For example:

Neben ihm saß der dünnhaarige Pianist, den Kopf im Nacken, und lauschte.
next to him sat the thin-haired pianist the-masc.acc.sg head in the neck and listened
"The thin-haired pianist, his head hanging (lit. his head in his neck), sat next to him and listened."

Read more about this topic:  Accusative Absolute

Famous quotes containing the word german:

    Seventeen hundred and fifty-five.
    Georgius Secundus was then alive,—
    Snuffy old drone from the German hive.
    Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)

    Immanuel Kant lived with knowledge as with his lawfully wedded wife, slept with it in the same intellectual bed for forty years and begot an entire German race of philosophical systems.
    Stefan Zweig (18811942)

    The German Reich is a Republic, and whoever doesn’t believe it gets one in the neck.
    Alfred Döblin (1878–1957)