Breakdown of Er braucht seine größte Stärke, um die schwächsten Leute zu heilen.
er
he
groß
big / tall
brauchen
to need
die Leute
the people
sein
his
schwach
weak
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
um ... zu
in order to
heilen
to heal
die Stärke
the strength
Questions & Answers about Er braucht seine größte Stärke, um die schwächsten Leute zu heilen.
Why does the superlative adjective größte end in -e here?
It is describing the noun Stärke, which is feminine and in the accusative case (because it is the direct object he "needs"). After a possessive word like seine, the adjective ending for feminine accusative is -e. We take the superlative stem größt- and add -e.
Why does schwächsten end in -en instead of -e?
schwächsten describes Leute, which is plural. It follows the definite plural article die. When an adjective comes after a definite article in the plural, it always takes the -en ending, even when it is a superlative form!
Why do both größte and schwächsten have umlauts when their base forms (groß and schwach) do not?
Many short, one-syllable adjectives with the vowels a, o, or u get an umlaut in their comparative and superlative forms. This is a common pattern, which is why groß (big/great) becomes größte and schwach (weak) becomes schwächste.
What does the um ... zu structure do in this sentence?
The phrase um ... zu means "in order to". You use it to express the purpose of an action (why he needs his strength). The um goes at the beginning of the clause, and the zu goes right before the infinitive verb (heilen) at the very end.
Learn Er braucht seine größte Stärke, um die schwächsten Leute zu heilen and more in German
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free