Breakdown of Er braucht stärkere Magie, um die schlimmsten Wunden zu heilen.
er
he
brauchen
to need
stark
strong
schlimm
bad / awful (severe)
die Wunde
the wound
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
um ... zu
in order to
die Magie
the magic
heilen
to heal
Questions & Answers about Er braucht stärkere Magie, um die schlimmsten Wunden zu heilen.
Why does stärkere have an -e at the end instead of just being stärker?
stärker is the comparative form of stark (strong). Because it acts as an adjective directly in front of the noun Magie (feminine, accusative) without an article like "die" or "eine", it takes the strong adjective ending for feminine accusative. That ending is -e. So, stärker + e = stärkere.
How is the ending for die schlimmsten built in this sentence?
When using superlatives before a noun, you build them in two steps. First, take the base word schlimm (bad) and add the superlative marker -st, giving you schlimmst-. Second, add the adjective ending. Since it comes after a definite article (die) and modifies a plural noun (Wunden) in the accusative case, it needs the weak plural ending -en. This gives us die schlimmsten.
Does the umlaut in stärkere come from the adjective ending?
No, the umlaut happens when the adjective is turned into its comparative form, before any endings are added. Many short, common adjectives with an a, o, or u get an umlaut in their comparative and superlative forms (stark -> stärker -> am stärksten). The only part added for the sentence's grammar is the final -e.
What is the grammar rule behind um ... zu heilen?
The phrase um ... zu translates to "in order to." In German, when you want to express the purpose of an action, you use um right after the comma, put all the extra information (die schlimmsten Wunden) in the middle, and finish with zu plus the infinitive verb (heilen) at the very end.
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