Breakdown of Es ist die Hitzewelle, die den Schaden verursacht.
sein
to be
es
it
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
der Schaden
the damage
verursachen
to cause
die Hitzewelle
the heatwave
Questions & Answers about Es ist die Hitzewelle, die den Schaden verursacht.
How would we add "according to the experts" to this sentence using zufolge, as taught in this lesson?
Since zufolge typically comes after the noun and requires the dative case, "the experts" (die Experten) becomes den Experten. You could place this right at the beginning for good flow: Den Experten zufolge ist es die Hitzewelle, die den Schaden verursacht.
Why say Es ist die Hitzewelle, die... instead of just Die Hitzewelle verursacht...?
This structure is called a cleft sentence, and it works exactly like it does in English ("It is the heatwave that..."). It is used to put heavy emphasis on the heatwave, highlighting it as the specific cause compared to other possibilities.
Is the second die acting as a feminine article or something else here?
It is acting as a relative pronoun, meaning "that" or "which". It must match the gender of the noun it refers back to (die Hitzewelle, feminine) and its role in its own clause (the subject, so nominative case). Therefore, we use die and push the verb (verursacht) to the end of the clause.
Why use verursacht instead of a more basic verb like macht for causing damage?
While you might hear Schaden machen in informal speech, Schaden verursachen (to cause damage) or Schaden anrichten (to do damage) are the correct, natural-sounding combinations in German. At a B2 level, upgrading to verursachen makes your German sound much more precise.
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