Breakdown of Die Gesellschaft übt Kritik an der Entscheidung.
an
at, on (vertical) / to (addressee) / of (in quantity/stock expressions)
die Entscheidung
the decision
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
üben
to practice
die Gesellschaft
the society
die Kritik
the criticism
Questions & Answers about Die Gesellschaft übt Kritik an der Entscheidung.
Why does the sentence say übt Kritik instead of just using the verb kritisiert?
Kritik üben is a Noun-Verb Support Construction (Nomen-Verb-Verbindung). In German, especially in formal writing, the news, or business contexts, it's very common to replace a simple verb like kritisieren (to criticize) with a noun plus a "helper" verb. The meaning is exactly the same, but the noun-verb pairing sounds a bit more official and polished.
Doesn't the verb üben usually mean "to practice"?
Yes, in everyday German, üben means "to practice" (like practicing an instrument or a sport). However, in fixed noun-verb combinations, the verb often loses its literal meaning and acts as a structural support for the noun. In this phrase, Kritik üben translates closer to "to exercise criticism" or "to voice criticism." You simply have to memorize üben as the standard partner for the noun Kritik.
Why do we need the preposition an here to say what society is criticizing?
When you use the simple verb kritisieren, you use a direct object with no preposition (Die Gesellschaft kritisiert die Entscheidung). But when you switch to the noun-verb combination Kritik üben, you can no longer connect the object directly. You must use its fixed preposition, which is an.
Since Entscheidung is a feminine word, why does it say an der Entscheidung?
The fixed phrase Kritik üben an always requires the dative case for the thing being criticized. Because Entscheidung is a feminine noun (die Entscheidung), the article die changes to der in the dative case. This is a common pattern: when an action changes to a Nomen-Verb-Verbindung, the case structure for the object usually changes too.
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