Breakdown of Es ist oft frustrierend, eine neue Fähigkeit selbst zu lernen.
sein
to be
ein
a, an (eine)
es
it
lernen
to learn
oft
often
neu
new
zu
to (infinitive marker)
selbst
oneself, myself (emphatic); even
frustrierend
frustrating
die Fähigkeit
the skill
Questions & Answers about Es ist oft frustrierend, eine neue Fähigkeit selbst zu lernen.
What does selbst mean here, and could I use selber instead?
In this sentence, selbst means 'yourself' or 'by yourself' (without a teacher). You can absolutely use selber here instead to say ... Fähigkeit selber zu lernen. Selbst is just the standard written form, while selber is very common in everyday spoken German.
I thought selbst could also mean 'even'. How do I know it means 'yourself' here?
When selbst means 'even', it almost always comes right before the noun or pronoun it emphasizes. When it means 'oneself' or 'yourself', it usually comes later in the sentence after the object, just like it does here after eine neue Fähigkeit.
Why does selbst come right before zu lernen?
In German, when selbst emphasizes the person doing the action (the implied 'you' doing the learning), it tends to sit near the end of the clause, right before the verb. Here, it is placed immediately before the infinitive verb phrase zu lernen.
Why is there a comma before eine?
The comma separates the main clause (Es ist oft frustrierend) from the infinitive clause (eine neue Fähigkeit selbst zu lernen). In German, it is standard to use a comma when an infinitive clause with zu contains extra pieces of information, like the direct object eine neue Fähigkeit.
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