Breakdown of Wir helfen Ihnen, damit Sie den Widerspruch gegen die Bürokratie einfach schreiben können.
Sie
you (formal)
wir
we
schreiben
to write
können
can / to be able to
helfen
to help
Ihnen
you / to you (formal, dative)
gegen
against
einfach
easy / simple / simply, just
damit
so that
die Bürokratie
the bureaucracy
der Widerspruch
the appeal (administrative)
Questions & Answers about Wir helfen Ihnen, damit Sie den Widerspruch gegen die Bürokratie einfach schreiben können.
This lesson is about 'verbalization'. How does this sentence demonstrate that compared to its nominalized form?
The clause damit Sie den Widerspruch ... schreiben können is the verbalized (verb-based) form of expressing a purpose. If it were a nominalized (noun-based) prepositional phrase, it might look like: Wir helfen Ihnen beim einfachen Schreiben des Widerspruchs... Transforming clunky noun phrases back into damit clauses (verbalization) is a key B2 skill for making your German sound more active and natural.
Why must we use damit here instead of an um ... zu (in order to) clause?
You can only use um ... zu when the subject of the main clause and the subordinate clause are exactly the same. Here, the subject of the main clause is Wir (we), but the subject of the purpose clause is Sie (you). Because the subjects are different, you have no choice but to use damit.
Why do we use the preposition gegen right after Widerspruch?
Just like verbs, many German nouns have fixed prepositions that you simply have to memorize. Der Widerspruch (the appeal, objection, or contradiction) takes gegen (against) followed by the accusative case. Another common legal or formal noun that works exactly the same way is der Einspruch gegen (the objection against).
As a quick refresher, why are both schreiben and können stacked at the very end of the sentence?
The conjunction damit always forces the conjugated verb to the end of its clause. Here, the conjugated verb is the modal verb können (matching Sie). The main verb schreiben stays in its infinitive form and is pushed to the second-to-last position, right before the conjugated modal verb, creating the ... schreiben können cluster.
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