Breakdown of Wir beobachten den das Phänomen beeinflussenden Faktor.
wir
we
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
beobachten
to observe, to watch
beeinflussen
to influence
Questions & Answers about Wir beobachten den das Phänomen beeinflussenden Faktor.
Why is the phrase das Phänomen beeinflussenden wedged between den and Faktor?
This is called an extended participle attribute. In German, you can take an entire descriptive phrase based on a participle like beeinflussend (influencing) and its object das Phänomen, and sandwich it directly between the article den and the noun it describes, Faktor. This structure is very common in formal or academic writing.
How would you rewrite this sentence using a relative clause?
You would move the descriptive information after the noun: Wir beobachten den Faktor, der das Phänomen beeinflusst. The participle beeinflussenden turns into the conjugated verb beeinflusst, and we add the relative pronoun der to refer back to the masculine noun den Faktor.
Why does the participle beeinflussenden have an -en ending?
When a present participle (a verb with a -d at the end, like beeinflussend) is placed before a noun, it acts just like an adjective and needs an adjective ending. Because den Faktor is masculine accusative and follows the definite article den, we use the weak adjective ending -en.
What case is das Phänomen and why?
It is in the accusative case. Even though the participle beeinflussenden is acting as an adjective here, it keeps the grammatical properties of its root verb beeinflussen (to influence), which requires an accusative direct object.