Breakdown of Der Athlet hat so viel Ausdauer, dass er den Rekord bricht.
er
he
haben
to have
viel
much / a lot
so
so, such (intensifier)
dass
that
der Athlet
the athlete
die Ausdauer
the endurance
der Rekord
the record
brechen
to break
Questions & Answers about Der Athlet hat so viel Ausdauer, dass er den Rekord bricht.
Why are so and dass separated here, rather than just using sodass?
We separate them when we want to emphasize a specific quality or amount in the main clause. Here, so emphasizes viel Ausdauer (so much endurance). If we used the single word sodass, it would just state a consequence (e.g., "The athlete has a lot of endurance, so that he breaks the record"), but splitting them up highlights exactly how much endurance he has.
Why is the verb bricht at the very end of the sentence?
The word dass is a subordinating conjunction, which means it introduces a subordinate clause. In German subordinate clauses, the conjugated verb (here, bricht) is always pushed to the very end of its clause.
The infinitive is brechen (to break). Why does it change to bricht?
Brechen is a strong (irregular) verb that has a stem-vowel change in the present tense. For the second and third person singular (du and er/sie/es), the e changes to an i. Therefore, it has to be er bricht.
Why is it den Rekord instead of der Rekord?
Rekord is a masculine noun (der Rekord). Because it is the direct object being acted upon in the clause (it is the thing being broken), it must be in the accusative case. For masculine nouns, der changes to den in the accusative.
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