Breakdown of Er arbeitet in einem Netzwerk, von dem niemand etwas weiß.
ein
a, an (eine)
er
he
etwas
something
arbeiten
to work
in
in
von
from, of / by (agent in passive clauses)
wissen
to know (a fact)
niemand
no one
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
das Netzwerk
the network
Questions & Answers about Er arbeitet in einem Netzwerk, von dem niemand etwas weiß.
Why do we use the relative pronoun dem here instead of das?
The pronoun refers back to the neuter noun Netzwerk. However, it comes right after the preposition von (about/of). Because von always forces the dative case, the relative pronoun must be the neuter dative form, which is dem.
Why does the German sentence use von to mean "about"?
The verb wissen (to know a fact) often pairs with the preposition von to express knowing "about" something. Because of this verb-preposition pair, "about which" becomes von dem.
Why is the verb weiß pushed to the very end of the sentence?
The phrase von dem niemand etwas weiß is a relative clause, which is a type of subordinate clause. In German, subordinate clauses always push the conjugated verb to the very end of their clause.
Why does the sentence use etwas instead of a negative word for "anything"?
In English, we say "nobody knows anything." German avoids double negatives, so because niemand (nobody) already makes the clause negative, the object is just the positive word etwas (something). Literally, this translates to "nobody knows something."
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