Breakdown of Wir dürfen den Vorteil nicht unterschätzen, denn der Marktführer ist brillant.
sein
to be
wir
we
nicht
not
dürfen
to be allowed to, may
denn
because
der Vorteil
the advantage
der Marktführer
the market leader
brillant
brilliant (shining)
unterschätzen
to underestimate
Questions & Answers about Wir dürfen den Vorteil nicht unterschätzen, denn der Marktführer ist brillant.
Why is dürfen used here instead of müssen, since the English translation says "must not"?
In German, nicht müssen means "do not have to" (lack of obligation). To express "must not" (a prohibition or strong warning), you have to use nicht dürfen (literally "not allowed to").
How could we rewrite this to use the concessive mag from this lesson, for example to say "As brilliant as the market leader may be..."?
You could say: So brillant der Marktführer auch sein mag, dürfen wir den Vorteil nicht unterschätzen. Using mag this way expresses a concession ("however brilliant he may be"), usually paired with words like so ... auch. Notice that the concessive clause takes up position one, so the main clause begins with the verb dürfen.
Why doesn't denn kick the verb to the end of the clause here?
The word denn is a coordinating conjunction that occupies "position 0" in the sentence, meaning it connects two main clauses without affecting their word order. If you used weil instead, the verb would go to the end: ... weil der Marktführer brillant ist.
Is the prefix unter- in unterschätzen separable?
No, unterschätzen is inseparable. The spoken stress falls on the main verb rather than the prefix. Because it is inseparable, its past participle does not use a ge- and is simply unterschätzt.
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