Breakdown of Räum den Müll auf, anstatt dass dein Hund alles schmutzig macht!
der Hund
the dog
machen
to make, to do
dein
your (informal)
aufräumen
to clean up / to tidy
der Müll
the trash / the garbage
alles
everything
schmutzig
dirty
anstatt dass
instead of (+ subordinate clause)
Questions & Answers about Räum den Müll auf, anstatt dass dein Hund alles schmutzig macht!
Why do we use anstatt dass here instead of just anstatt ... zu?
We use anstatt dass because the two halves of the sentence have different subjects. The implied subject of the first half is you (Clean up!), while the subject of the second half is dein Hund (your dog). If the subject were the same in both halves, you would use an infinitive phrase with anstatt ... zu.
How does anstatt dass affect the word order in the second half of the sentence?
anstatt dass is a subordinating conjunction, which means it introduces a dependent clause. In German, dependent clauses always send their conjugated verb to the very end. That is why macht comes after alles schmutzig.
Where does the word Räum come from, and why is there an auf later on?
The verb here is aufräumen (to clean up), which is a separable verb. In a command, the prefix auf gets pushed to the end of its clause. The form Räum is the informal command (imperative) for du. You form it by taking the normal du form (räumst) and dropping the -st.
Why is it den Müll instead of der Müll?
The word for trash, Müll, is a masculine noun (der Müll). Since it is the direct object of the verb aufräumen (it is the thing being cleaned up), it must be in the accusative case, changing der to den.
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