Breakdown of Das ernsthafte Abkommen wurde unterschrieben, ohne dass der Wert des Friedens sank.
unterschreiben
to sign
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
werden
to be (passive auxiliary + past participle)
ohne dass
without (+ subordinate clause)
sinken
to fall / to sink (go under water)
der Wert
the value
der Friede
the peace
ernsthaft
serious
das Abkommen
the agreement
Questions & Answers about Das ernsthafte Abkommen wurde unterschrieben, ohne dass der Wert des Friedens sank.
Why does Frieden end in -s here if it belongs to the N-declension group?
Frieden (peace) belongs to a small group of mixed N-declension nouns. While regular N-declension nouns take an -n or -en ending in cases other than the nominative, these mixed nouns also add an -s in the genitive case. Because des Friedens means "of the peace," it needs that extra genitive -s on top of the -n. Other common words that do this are der Name (des Namens) and der Gedanke (des Gedankens).
Why use ohne dass instead of the ohne ... zu structure here?
You use ohne dass when the subject of the main clause is different from the subject of the second clause. Here, the first subject is Das ernsthafte Abkommen (the serious agreement), but the second subject is der Wert (the value). If the agreement itself was doing the sinking, you could use ohne zu, but because the subjects change, you must use ohne dass.
Why does the verb sank appear at the very end of the sentence?
The phrase ohne dass (without) is a subordinating conjunction. When you start a clause with a subordinating conjunction, the conjugated verb—in this case, the past tense verb sank (sank or dropped)—is always kicked to the very end of that clause.
What grammar structure is wurde unterschrieben?
This is the passive voice in the simple past tense (Präteritum). It is formed using the simple past of werden (which is wurde) plus the past participle of the main verb (unterschrieben). It means "was signed," focusing entirely on the action rather than who actually held the pen.
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