Breakdown of Anstatt dass der Besitzer den Müll aufräumt, treten die Gäste darauf.
aufräumen
to clean up / to tidy
der Müll
the trash / the garbage
der Gast
the guest
darauf
on it
der Besitzer
the owner
treten
to step
anstatt dass
instead of (+ subordinate clause)
Questions & Answers about Anstatt dass der Besitzer den Müll aufräumt, treten die Gäste darauf.
Why does this sentence use Anstatt dass instead of Anstatt ... zu?
You use anstatt dass when the two halves of the sentence have different subjects. Here, the first subject is der Besitzer (the owner) and the second is die Gäste (the guests). If the subjects were the same (for example, if the owner was stepping on the trash instead of cleaning it up), you would use the shorter anstatt ... zu structure.
Why does the second part start with the verb treten?
In German, the conjugated verb must always be in the second position of a main clause. The entire first part of the sentence (Anstatt dass der Besitzer den Müll aufräumt) acts as one big block taking up position one. Therefore, the verb treten must come immediately after the comma to take the second position.
Why isn't the verb aufräumen separated here?
aufräumen (to clean up) is a separable verb, so normally the prefix auf goes to the end of the clause. However, because Anstatt dass introduces a subordinate clause, it pushes the conjugated verb (räumt) to the very end. When the verb meets its prefix at the end of the clause, they merge back together into one single word: aufräumt.
What does darauf mean here, and could I just say auf ihn?
darauf (on it) refers back to den Müll (the trash). When referring to non-living things, German often combines da with a preposition instead of using a pronoun. While auf ihn (since Müll is masculine) is grammatically correct, using a da-compound like darauf sounds much more natural for objects.
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