Breakdown of Sie bittet, die Mitarbeiter mögen die Kunden vor der Sitzung kontaktieren.
sie
she
vor
before (in time)
bitten
to ask, to request
der Mitarbeiter
the employee (male)
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
der Kunde
the customer
die Sitzung
the meeting (formal session)
mögen
may / be asked to (in indirect requests)
kontaktieren
to contact
Questions & Answers about Sie bittet, die Mitarbeiter mögen die Kunden vor der Sitzung kontaktieren.
Why use mögen here instead of sollen?
In reported speech (Konjunktiv I), mögen is used for polite indirect requests, especially after verbs like bitten (to ask/request). If we used sollen here, it would sound like a strict order or command rather than a polite request.
Why is there no dass after bittet, and how does that affect the word order?
You can drop dass (that) in German reported speech. When you omit dass, the reported clause acts like a regular main clause. That is why the conjugated verb mögen stays in the second position instead of being pushed to the very end of the sentence.
Both die Mitarbeiter and die Kunden use die. How can we tell who is supposed to contact whom?
Because plural nouns use die for both the nominative (subject) and accusative (direct object) cases, the forms look exactly the same here. When this happens, German strictly relies on standard Subject-Verb-Object word order to avoid confusion. Therefore, the first group mentioned (die Mitarbeiter) must be the subject doing the contacting.
Why is it vor der Sitzung (dative) if vor is a two-way preposition?
Two-way prepositions only switch between accusative and dative when talking about physical space and movement. Whenever you use a two-way preposition like vor to describe time (answering the question "when?"), it always takes the dative case. Since die Sitzung (the meeting) is feminine, it becomes der Sitzung.
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