Breakdown of Ich erkläre die Regel deutlich, damit ihr sie versteht.
ich
I
sie
she
verstehen
to understand
ihr
you (informal plural)
Questions & Answers about Ich erkläre die Regel deutlich, damit ihr sie versteht.
Why is the verb versteht at the very end of the sentence?
The word damit (so that) is a subordinating conjunction. It introduces a dependent clause, which means it kicks the conjugated verb (versteht) to the very end of that clause.
Could I use um ... zu instead of damit to express purpose here?
No, because the two parts of the sentence have different subjects. The first part is about what ich (I) do, and the second part is about what ihr (you all) do. You must use damit when the subjects are different. You can only use um ... zu when the subject stays the same.
Why does the sentence use sie when the English translation says "it"?
In German, pronouns must match the grammatical gender of the noun they replace. The word for "the rule" is die Regel, which is a feminine noun. Because it is feminine, you have to use the feminine pronoun sie instead of the neutral es to say "it".
I know deutlich means "clear". Why doesn't it have an ending here, like deutliche?
Here, deutlich is being used as an adverb to describe how the action is done (explaining "clearly"), rather than describing a noun. In German, adverbs do not take any adjective endings, so it stays in its basic form.