Breakdown of Die Entscheidung war leider zuungunsten unserer Mannschaft.
sein
to be
leider
unfortunately
unser
our
die Mannschaft
the team
die Entscheidung
the decision
zuungunsten
to the disadvantage of
Questions & Answers about Die Entscheidung war leider zuungunsten unserer Mannschaft.
What case does the preposition zuungunsten take in this sentence?
It takes the genitive case. You can see this in the phrase unserer Mannschaft, where the feminine possessive pronoun unser receives the feminine genitive ending -er.
Where does the word zuungunsten come from?
It comes from the noun die Gunst (favor or goodwill). Adding the prefix un- makes it die Ungunst (disfavor). The preposition literally evolved from the phrase meaning 'to the disfavor of' (zu Ungunsten). You will still sometimes see it written as two words, but the single-word spelling is the standard modern form when used as a preposition.
Why is it unserer Mannschaft if die Mannschaft is a feminine noun?
This is because the preposition zuungunsten forces the entire noun phrase into the genitive case. While unsere is the correct ending for feminine nouns in the nominative and accusative cases, the feminine genitive ending for possessive determiners is -er, which turns unser into unserer.
How would I use zuungunsten with a pronoun instead of a noun like Mannschaft?
While zuungunsten requires the genitive for noun phrases, attaching a genitive personal pronoun directly to it sounds very awkward and is rarely done. Instead, German speakers typically switch to von plus the dative case for pronouns, for example saying zuungunsten von uns (to our disadvantage).
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