Breakdown of Es ist wichtig, die Vertreter zu überzeugen.
sein
to be
es
it
wichtig
important
zu
to (infinitive marker)
überzeugen
to convince
der Vertreter
the representative
Questions & Answers about Es ist wichtig, die Vertreter zu überzeugen.
Why is there no preposition used with überzeugen in this sentence?
The verb überzeugen (to convince) often relies on the preposition von to state what someone is being convinced of (e.g., to convince someone OF something). However, because this sentence only mentions who is being convinced (die Vertreter) and not what they are being convinced of, the preposition isn't needed here.
If I wanted to add 'of the idea' to this sentence, how would I integrate that prepositional phrase?
You would use the preposition von followed by the dative case. To say 'of the idea', you would add von der Idee, making the clause: ..., die Vertreter von der Idee zu überzeugen.
How can we tell that überzeugen is an inseparable verb just by looking at this sentence?
In an infinitive clause with zu, a separable verb wedges the zu right between its prefix and the verb stem to form one word (like anzukommen). Because this sentence writes them as two separate words (zu überzeugen) rather than combining them into überzuzeugen, we know the prefix über- is inseparable here.
Why is there a comma after wichtig?
The comma separates the main clause (Es ist wichtig) from the extended infinitive clause (die Vertreter zu überzeugen). While short infinitive clauses that only contain zu and a verb can sometimes drop the comma, it is generally required in German when the infinitive phrase includes an object like die Vertreter.
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