Word
Wir glauben ihm nicht, weil er unschuldig sein will.
Meaning
We don't believe him because he claims to be innocent.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Wir glauben ihm nicht, weil er unschuldig sein will.
Doesn't wollen mean "to want"? Why does it translate to "claims" here?
This is the special subjective use of wollen. While it usually means "to want", you can use it to express that someone is making a questionable claim about themselves. So er unschuldig sein will means "he claims to be innocent".
Could this sentence also mean "because he wants to be innocent"?
Grammatically, yes. Out of context, er unschuldig sein will can mean "he wants to be innocent". However, the first half of the sentence (Wir glauben ihm nicht) strongly signals that a statement is being doubted, making the subjective "claims to be" meaning much more natural here.
Why do we use the dative pronoun ihm instead of the accusative ihn?
The verb glauben requires a dative object when you are talking about believing a person. Therefore, "we believe him" uses the dative ihm rather than the accusative ihn.
Why is the verb order sein will at the end of the sentence?
The conjunction weil starts a subordinate clause, which pushes the conjugated verb to the very end of the sentence. Here, will is the conjugated verb and sein is the infinitive. The conjugated verb gets pushed all the way back, landing right after the infinitive.