Breakdown of Vi reducerer udslippet i og med at vi undgår fossile brændstoffer.
vi
we
brændstoffet
the fuel
undgå
to avoid
reducere
to reduce
Questions & Answers about Vi reducerer udslippet i og med at vi undgår fossile brændstoffer.
What exactly does i og med at mean here, and how is it different from just using fordi?
I og med at translates best to "in that" or "by virtue of the fact that". While fordi simply means "because", i og med at is used in argumentation to show that one fact logically and inevitably follows from another. Here, the act of avoiding fossil fuels is exactly what constitutes the reduction of emissions.
Is i og med at a coordinating or subordinating conjunction, and how does that affect word order?
It acts as a subordinating conjunction. This means the clause that follows it (vi undgår...) is a subordinate clause. If we added a sentence adverb like ikke (not), it would have to go between the subject and the verb: i og med at vi ikke undgår....
The English translation says "emissions" (plural), but isn't udslippet singular?
Yes, udslippet is the singular definite form ("the emission"). In Danish, udslip is often treated as an uncountable mass noun when referring to pollution as a general phenomenon, whereas English prefers the plural "emissions". If you wanted to talk about distinct, separate leaks, you could use the plural udslippene, but the singular is much more natural here.
Why does fossile end in an -e in this sentence?