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I am currently attempting to read 'Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo' as it was recommended by my teacher as being an easy read. However, on the first page I have found something confusing.

The sentence in question is

Wahrscheinlich, weil ich zunächst einen urischen Horror vor dieser Wohnung hatte

After some googling, I found this German stackexchange question. In this answer it is clearly stated that "If you place an adverb (or an adverbial phrase) at the beginning of the sentence, then the predicate (verb) must come next". So why, in this sentence is the adverb "Wahrscheinlich" followed by weil? And also, the answer linked above states, "adverbial phrases are not separated from the rest of the clause by a comma when put at the beginning of the sentence.". So again, I do not see why this Wahrsheinlich is any different? All I can think is that it is part of something that I am failing to spot however it is it's own sentence so I cannot see how what is before it matters. However, if this could make a difference then here is the sentence in context:

Wie die Wohnung aussah, in die wir dann kamen, habe ich auch nie vergessen. Wahrscheinlich, weil ich zunächst einen urischen Horror vor dieser Wohnung hatte. Sie war so groß und leer, daß ich Angst hatte, mich zu verlaufen. Wenn man laut sprach, hallte es unheimlich.

Note As a side question, what is the meaning of 'urischen'? I have tried dict.cc and google translate and neither have a meaning for it.

Any help is much appreciated, as this has really made me wonder if this is an easy read or not.

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The answer is rather simple.The sentence in the example isn't actually a real sentence in that there is no main sentence. It is a shortened version of this:

Wahrscheinlich habe ich die Wohnung nie vergessen, weil...

or this

Wahrscheinlich war das (was ich im Satz davor gesagt habe) der Fall, weil...

As for "urischen Horror"... look for Urangst. That should make it clearer. It's a primal horror, but "urisch" is not really a word and I only understood it in combination with horror.

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  • Thank you for clearing up the meaning of urisch. And also thank you for explaining the fact it wasn't a real sentence. It makes much more sense now!
    – Harvey
    Nov 27, 2014 at 19:19
  • Well, very strictly spoken, it is a real sentence, where "Wahrscheinlich," is the main clause - in a very reduced manner.
    – Jonathan Scholbach ♦
    Jan 31, 2017 at 22:01

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