Breakdown of Ich koche vegan, damit er nicht allergisch reagiert.
ich
I
er
he
kochen
to cook
nicht
not
damit
so that
vegan
vegan
allergisch
allergic
reagieren
to react
Questions & Answers about Ich koche vegan, damit er nicht allergisch reagiert.
Why does nicht go right before allergisch instead of at the end of the sentence?
In this subordinate clause, the conjugated verb (reagiert) is pushed to the very end by the word damit. Because nicht is specifically negating how he reacts (allergisch), it must sit directly in front of the word it negates.
Why do we use damit instead of um ... zu to mean "so that" or "in order to" here?
You must use damit here because the subjects in the two halves of the sentence are different. I am doing the cooking (ich koche), but he is the one who might react (er ... reagiert). You can only use the um ... zu (in order to) structure when the subject is the exact same for both actions.
Why doesn't vegan have an ending here, like veganes or vegane?
In this sentence, vegan is acting as an adverb describing how you cook, rather than an adjective modifying a noun (like "vegan food"). In German, adverbs never take grammatical endings.
What happens to the word order if I start the sentence with the damit clause?
If you move the entire subordinate clause to the front, the main clause must immediately start with its verb to keep the verb in the second "position" of the overall sentence. It would become: Damit er nicht allergisch reagiert, koche ich vegan.
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