Breakdown of Obwohl die Inflation gestiegen war, haben sie das Kapital gesammelt.
sein
to be
haben
to have
sie
they
sammeln
to gather
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
obwohl
although
steigen
to rise (go up, increase)
die Inflation
the inflation
das Kapital
the capital (money, assets)
Questions & Answers about Obwohl die Inflation gestiegen war, haben sie das Kapital gesammelt.
How would I rewrite this exact sentence using "trotz" instead of "obwohl"?
You would say: Trotz der gestiegenen Inflation haben sie das Kapital gesammelt. Because trotz is a preposition that requires a noun phrase (usually in the genitive case), you have to turn the entire clause obwohl die Inflation gestiegen war into a single noun phrase.
In that "trotz" version, what exactly happens to the verb "gestiegen war"?
It turns into an adjective! To keep the meaning that the inflation had already risen, we use the past participle gestiegen as an adjective right in front of the noun. It gets the standard adjective ending for a feminine noun in the genitive case (-en), giving us der gestiegenen Inflation (literally: the risen inflation). The helper verb war is completely dropped.
Why does the first clause use "war" (gestiegen war) rather than "hatte" for the past perfect tense?
The verb steigen (to rise/climb) expresses a change of state. Verbs of motion or change of state take sein as their helper verb rather than haben. To form the past perfect tense (Plusquamperfekt), you use the simple past of sein, which is war.
Why does the main clause start with "haben sie" instead of "sie haben"?
This is the classic "verb-second" rule in action. The entire subordinate clause (Obwohl die Inflation gestiegen war) occupies the first position in the sentence. Therefore, the conjugated verb of the main clause (haben) must immediately follow the comma to take the second position, pushing the subject (sie) right after it.
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