Breakdown of Der Mann war zu stolz, um das Geld zu akzeptieren.
sein
to be
der Mann
the man
das Geld
the money
zu
too (e.g., too big)
stolz
proud
um ... zu
in order to
akzeptieren
to accept
Questions & Answers about Der Mann war zu stolz, um das Geld zu akzeptieren.
How exactly does the zu ..., um ... zu structure work here?
It closely mirrors the English "too [adjective] to [verb]" pattern. The first clause uses zu stolz to mean "too proud". The second clause uses um ... zu akzeptieren to mean "to accept". The word um starts the infinitive clause, and the zu goes right before the infinitive verb at the very end of the sentence.
Do I always need a comma before um in this kind of sentence?
Yes. In German, infinitive clauses starting with um, ohne (without), or anstatt (instead of) must be separated from the main clause by a comma. This is different from English, where we write "too proud to accept" without any punctuation in between.
Why is das Geld placed where it is in the second half of the sentence?
In an um ... zu clause, um is always the very first word, and zu + the infinitive verb (zu akzeptieren) always gets pushed to the very end. Any objects or other details—like das Geld—must be sandwiched in between them.
Could I use the verb annehmen instead of akzeptieren for "to accept"?
Yes, absolutely! Saying um das Geld anzunehmen is a very natural alternative. akzeptieren sounds slightly more formal but is perfectly fine. Just remember that because annehmen is a separable prefix verb, the zu gets wedged into the middle of the word: anzunehmen.
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