Expert: Cornelia Neumann - 10/30/2009

Question
Hi Cornelia,
I am having to explain the construction,
" 'es' ...  [verb] ... [subject, i.e. nominative]"
e.g.: es singt der Hamburger Kinderchor, or (and this is where it gets tricky:)
Es spielen die Wiener Philharmoniker.
Es fallen die ersten Bla"tter.
Es ziehen die brausenden Wellen (Heinrich Heine)

My students were horrified to see that "es" is not followed by a verb in the 3rd person sg, and I have not found any hard and fast rules, or explanations. Somebody said, "So 'es' turns into some... meaningless particle?" At which point I was saved by the bell :)
I have told them that the subject is positioned at the end and that the verb must agree in number but would really appreciate some helpful theory or guidelines.
Many thanks in advance, Martina.

Answer
Hallo Martina,

Wikipedia to the rescue:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expletivum
--> Ebenfalls rhetorisch motiviert ist die Verwendung des Expletivs bei Sätzen wie „Es zogen zwei Burschen ins Felde“. Zur Fokussierung auf das eigentliche Subjekt („zwei Burschen“) wurde dieser Satzteil verschoben und durch ein Expletivum ersetzt.


In other words, it's an odd construction that can be explained but not without some very fancy footwork. I had certainly never heard of an expletivum before.

Hope this helps,
Cornelia