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My question is if "es" is used only if it is in the first place when acknowledging the existence of something (vs. es gibt). Please see the example below.

  1. Es sind viele Wolken am Himmel.

  2. Am Himmel sind viele Wolken.

In the first sentence, we use "es" in the first place but in the second sentence "es" doesn't exist. Isn't it supposed to be as following?

Am Himmel sind es viele Wolken.

I am just trying to understand the structure of the sentence here.

David Vogt
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yucelm
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  • (1) and (2) is right while "Am Himmel sind es viele Wolken" has a slightly different touch and sounds unusual. It is like it should be followed with ", die ich sehe, aber zwischen den Bergen (sehe ich) keine". Unfortunately I cannot explain why :) – planetmaker Apr 25 '23 at 12:53
  • What's the relation of this question to "es gibt"? – user253751 Apr 26 '23 at 15:10

2 Answers2

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Yes, "es" is in this case only used if there is nothing else in the beginning of the sentence (the so-called Vorfeld).

There are actually four functions of "es", as outlined in this exellent answer: expletive (placeholder filling the beginning), referential, impersonal (placeholder for an object) and correlative (placeholder for a following clause). The "es" in "Es sind" is expletive, it is a placeholder for the beginning of the sentence and it vanishes the instant this beginning is filled, for example by moving "Am Himmel" into the front.

Es sind Wolken am Himmel. Am Himmel sind Wolken.

This is different from the "es" in "es gibt", which is impersonal (placeholder for an object). It can't be left out.

Es gibt Wolken am Himmel. Am Himmel gibt es Wolken.

Note that "sein" ist also used with the impersonal "es", but with another meaning, with distances.

Zum Bahnhof sind es 10 Kilometer. Bis Weihnachten sind es noch 10 Tage.

Dodezv
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I would say no to the statement: "es" is used only if it is in the first place when acknowledging the existence of something (vs. es gibt)."

Example: Lets say we are talking about a Girl, which is a neuter in the German language:

"Das Mädchen ging die Straße hinunter. Es bog nach links ab und ging schneller."

(translation: The girl was walking down the street. She turned left and walked faster.)

Here we do not acknowledge the existence of the girl. "Es" just refers to the girl we mentioned before.

Or did I get your question wrong?

The sentence "Am Himmel sind es viele Wolken" sounds just wrong to me. It could be grammatically right, but I am sure no German native speaker would say it (except maybe in a dialect, but we are not talking about that)

user unknown
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Michael W.
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