Breakdown of Wir feiern unseren Fortschritt, indem wir zusammen essen.
wir
we
zusammen
together
essen
to eat
unser
our
feiern
to celebrate
indem
by doing
der Fortschritt
the progress
Questions & Answers about Wir feiern unseren Fortschritt, indem wir zusammen essen.
How does indem translate to "by eating" when essen just means "eat"?
In German, the conjunction indem is used to explain how you do something (the method or means). While English uses "by" plus an "-ing" word like "by eating," German uses indem to start a new clause with a subject and a regular conjugated verb. So, indem wir ... essen literally translates to "by means of that we eat."
Why is the verb essen pushed to the very end of the sentence?
Because indem is a subordinating conjunction. Just like dass (that) or weil (because), indem kicks the conjugated verb in its clause out of the normal second position and sends it all the way to the end.
Why does the sentence use unseren Fortschritt instead of just unser Fortschritt?
Der Fortschritt (the progress) is a masculine noun. In this sentence, it is the direct object being celebrated, so it must be in the accusative case. The masculine accusative ending for possessive words like unser (our) is -en, making it unseren.
I see the word Schritt inside Fortschritt. Are they related?
Yes! Der Schritt means "the step," and the prefix fort- usually means "away" or "forward." So der Fortschritt literally translates to a "forward step," which makes perfect sense for the English word "progress."
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