I find this dialogue in a course book:
Person A: Ich glaube, es kommt ein Sturm. (I think that storm might
come)
Person B: Ach, das glaube ich nicht. Es bleibt schön.
(Oh, I don’t think so, it remains fine)
It is only a picture, has nothing to do with the theme of the chapter, therefore there is no further explanation. In that picture 2 people have a conversation like above mentioned.
If “es” is the subject, then “ein Sturm” should be in Akkusativ,
shouldn’t it? The sentence should be like this: Es kommt einen Sturm. The noun
“Sturm” is masculine.
If “ein Sturm” is the subject, why is “es” still there? People can of
course immediately build the sentence “Ein Sturm kommt” , can’t they?
There is pronoun “es”, which is special for wheater. But as far as I
know this pronoun “es” is always in Nominativ: es schneit, es regnet, es ist
kalt, es ist bewölkt, es ist sonnig, es ist heiss, es ist windig.
I conclude that the subject is “ein Sturm”. Then I asked my friends in
Germany (I just consider them as friends), why the sentence is built so “Es
kommt ein Sturm”, not “Ein Sturm kommt” ?
My friends in Germany comment:
Marita in Hanstedt
Oh, oh, you asked things, about which I never worried.Both are possible ! We Germans say it so or so, just like we are thinking.Least number of us has studied German. :) :)Unfortunately I really cannot help you. Both are just possible.
Sabine in München
Absolutely people can also say pure grammatically "ein Sturm kommt" , but it is mostly expressed with "es kommt ein Sturm". Except "die Sonne scheint" mostly the weather phenomena isn’t put in Nominativ, because it will be chopped off, but it uses a paraphrase with "es". The sentence "ein Sturm kommt" according to my feeling expresses a minimal bigger probability/certainty, that a storm actually comes, than the sentence "es kommt ein Sturm". In this existing case, where the speaker starts the sentence with "Ich glaube...", according to my opinion people can also continue with "...ein Sturm kommt", which is equal (with ”es kommt ein Sturm”).
Achim in Esslingen
About your question:The 1st person only means that a storm might come; he thinks that a storm springs up.The 2nd person doesn’t convince.This is completely correct, because the 1st person speaks in subjunctive, the 2nd person in present.
Mr Wehmann in Hildesheim
About grammar: both sentences "es kommt ein Sturm" and "ein Sturm kommt", both can be used, where in the second the stress is more on storm, while the first more describes a general statement. The pronoun "es" in German is often used with the so-called impersonal verbs like es regnet, es schneit. I think, the pronoun "es" cannot be put in Nominativ, since it is not a noun.
Hmm, unfortunately the question is not answered, which
one is the subject: es or ein Sturm. Sabine’s answer makes confused. If I don’t
misunderstand her, then the subject would be “es”, but why ein Sturm remains
unchanged, actually it should be “einen Sturm”? Unfortunately Sabine forgot also,
that the pronoun “es” special for weather all is in Nominativ, like I mentioned
above: es schneit, es regnet, es ist kalt, es ist bewölkt, es ist sonnig, es ist
heiss, es ist windig.
Achims term “subjunctive” is not fully correct. According
to the conjugation “kommt” is not subjunctive, but Indikativ. The conjugation of
subjunctive ( II) is “kömme”.
The last sentence of Mr Wehmann also makes
confused. It is clear, that “es” isn’t a noun. “Es” is a pronoun. But the pronoun
for the third person singular is really “es”, in Nominativ and also in
Akkusativ. :-(
Back to text
42: Two Hours with Prof. Hess-Luettich
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