Breakdown of Spender und deren Familien arbeiten zusammen, um die Armut zu reduzieren.
und
and
arbeiten
to work
zusammen
together
die Familie
the family
um
at (time)
zu
to (infinitive marker)
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
reduzieren
to reduce
die Armut
the poverty
deren
their (referring back to something just mentioned)
der Spender
the donor
Questions & Answers about Spender und deren Familien arbeiten zusammen, um die Armut zu reduzieren.
Why use deren here instead of the regular possessive pronoun ihre?
While ihre would also be grammatically correct for 'their', using the demonstrative pronoun deren points back strongly and specifically to Spender. German speakers often use dessen (singular) or deren (plural) to avoid ambiguity about who owns what, or simply to add emphasis, meaning 'the families of those specific people'.
Since the current lesson is about derer versus deren, could we use derer instead in this sentence?
No, deren is required here. You use deren when it sits right in front of a noun to show possession, exactly like 'their' or 'whose' in deren Familien. You use derer when the pronoun stands completely on its own without a following noun, which usually happens when it is immediately followed by a relative clause, such as: die Familien derer, die spenden (the families of those who donate).
Why are arbeiten and zusammen separated, but then followed by a comma rather than being at the very end of the sentence?
They form the separable verb zusammenarbeiten (to work together). In a standard main clause, the conjugated part (arbeiten) takes the second position, and the prefix (zusammen) goes to the end of that specific clause. The comma marks the end of the main clause and the start of the new um ... zu infinitive clause.
What is the rule for the comma before um die Armut zu reduzieren?
The second part of the sentence is an infinitive clause expressing purpose, translating to 'in order to'. In German, infinitive clauses that are introduced by the words um, ohne, or anstatt must always be set off by a comma from the main clause.
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