Breakdown of In dem Brief handelt es sich um die Miete.
in
in
der Brief
the letter
die Miete
the rent
es handelt sich um
it is a matter of, it concerns
Questions & Answers about In dem Brief handelt es sich um die Miete.
Why does the sentence use es and sich together?
They are part of the fixed verb phrase sich handeln um (to be about / to concern). In this phrase, the subject is always the impersonal es (it). So, es handelt sich um literally translates to 'it concerns itself with', but it is just the standard German way to say 'it is about' or 'it concerns'.
Could I change the word order to In dem Brief handelt sich es um die Miete?
No, the order es sich is mandatory here. When you have two pronouns immediately after the verb, the subject pronoun (Nominative) always comes before the object pronoun. Since es is the subject and sich is the reflexive object, es must come first.
Why is die Miete in the accusative case here?
The phrase es handelt sich um always requires the accusative case for the topic being discussed. This is because the preposition um is a strict accusative preposition that always forces the following noun into the accusative case. Since Miete is feminine, its article remains die.
What is the difference between es handelt sich um and es geht um?
They mean the exact same thing and both use the preposition um plus the accusative case. You could perfectly well say In dem Brief geht es um die Miete. The main difference is tone: es handelt sich um sounds slightly more formal, official, or written, which fits well when discussing matters like rent in a letter.
Why does the sentence start with In dem Brief (Dative) instead of In den Brief (Accusative)?
The preposition in is a two-way preposition. We use the dative case here (dem) because the letter is a static location where the information is found. We are talking about what is already contained inside the letter, so there is no movement or direction into it.
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