Breakdown of Hat er Sie darüber in Kenntnis gesetzt?
er
he
in
in
Sie
you (formal)
haben
to have
setzen
to set / to sit (someone)
darüber
about it, over it
die Kenntnis
the knowledge (awareness, familiarity)
Questions & Answers about Hat er Sie darüber in Kenntnis gesetzt?
What is the Noun-Verb construction in this sentence?
The construction is jemanden in Kenntnis setzen. It is a formal alternative to the normal verb informieren (to inform). In these noun-verb pairings, the verb (setzen) loses much of its original meaning and mostly just serves to support the noun (Kenntnis).
What does in Kenntnis setzen literally mean?
Literally, it translates to "to set someone in knowledge." While it sounds a bit clunky in English, many German noun-verb support constructions create meanings that are slightly different from their literal parts. Here, "putting someone in a state of knowledge" simply means informing them.
Why is the formal "you" here Sie (accusative) and not Ihnen (dative)?
Because the core verb is setzen (to set or place), which always takes a direct accusative object for the person or thing being placed. Even though the overall meaning has changed to "inform," the grammar rules of the base verb setzen still apply to the whole expression.
How does darüber fit into this construction?
The phrase requires the preposition über (about) to specify what someone is being informed of, making the full phrase über etwas in Kenntnis setzen. Because we are talking about an abstract "it" rather than a specific person, we combine da + r + über to make darüber (about it), which is a great refresher on the standard way to say "preposition + it" in German.
Why is in Kenntnis pushed all the way to the end of the sentence?
In a noun-verb construction, the noun phrase (in Kenntnis) forms a tight unit with the verb. It behaves a lot like a separable prefix, moving to the end of the clause. Since this sentence is a question in the perfect tense, it sits right next to the past participle (gesetzt) at the very end.
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