Breakdown of Wir müssen den Schock überwinden, ohne aufzugeben.
wir
we
müssen
to have to, must
ohne
without
aufgeben
to give up (surrender, quit)
der Schock
the shock (medical or severe trauma)
überwinden
to overcome
Questions & Answers about Wir müssen den Schock überwinden, ohne aufzugeben.
Why is it aufzugeben instead of zu aufgeben?
aufgeben (to give up) is a separable verb. In a zu-infinitive structure, like the ohne ... zu (without [doing something]) phrase used here, the zu gets squeezed directly between the separable prefix (auf-) and the verb stem (-geben). This forms one single word: aufzugeben.
The English translation says "giving up". Why is there no "-ing" equivalent in the German sentence?
German doesn't use "-ing" verb forms (gerunds) the way English does. To express "without doing [something]", German uses the structure ohne ... zu paired with the infinitive form of the verb. So, "without giving up" translates directly to ohne aufzugeben.
Why is überwinden placed right before the comma?
This is due to the modal verb müssen. In a regular main clause, the modal verb takes the second position, and the main action verb it modifies (überwinden) gets pushed all the way to the end of that clause.
Why isn't there a "zu" with überwinden, like there is with aufzugeben?
überwinden is paired with the modal verb müssen, and modal verbs take a "bare" infinitive without zu. The zu is only required in the second half of the sentence because it is part of the specific ohne ... zu grammatical structure.
Why is it den Schock and not der Schock?
Schock is a masculine noun (der Schock). Because it is the direct object of the sentence—it is the thing that we must overcome—it takes the accusative case, which changes der to den.
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