Breakdown of Wir wissen nicht, inwieweit man die Lieferkette nachvollziehen kann.
wir
we
nicht
not
können
can / to be able to
wissen
to know (a fact)
man
one / you (impersonal)
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
die Lieferkette
the supply chain
inwieweit
to what extent
nachvollziehen
to trace
Questions & Answers about Wir wissen nicht, inwieweit man die Lieferkette nachvollziehen kann.
Why is the conjugated verb kann at the very end of the sentence?
The word inwieweit ('to what extent') is acting as a subordinating conjunction here. It introduces an indirect question, which forms a subordinate clause. Just like with dass or ob, this means the conjugated verb (kann) must be placed at the very end of the clause.
Could I use inwiefern instead of inwieweit here?
Yes, they are almost entirely interchangeable in this context. inwieweit sometimes implies a slightly more measurable extent, whereas inwiefern leans a bit more toward 'in what way'. However, for most native speakers, both perfectly translate to 'to what extent' in this sentence.
The verb nachvollziehen is separable. Why isn't it separated in this sentence?
It stays together because it is paired with the modal verb kann, which always requires the main verb to be in its full infinitive form. As a quick refresher: even if there were no modal verb here, a separable prefix reattaches to its verb whenever it is pushed to the end of a subordinate clause.
The English translation uses 'one can trace', but wouldn't 'the supply chain can be traced' sound more natural?
Yes, it often does! This sentence is a great example of how German frequently uses the active voice with the impersonal pronoun man ('one') in situations where English speakers naturally default to the passive voice ('can be traced'). Using man here is highly idiomatic and very common in German.
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