Breakdown of Wir fragen, inwieweit die Produzenten, die wir bezahlen, profitieren.
fragen
to ask
wir
we
bezahlen
to pay
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
der Produzent
the producer
profitieren
to profit
inwieweit
to what extent
Questions & Answers about Wir fragen, inwieweit die Produzenten, die wir bezahlen, profitieren.
How does inwieweit affect the word order in this sentence?
Here, inwieweit (to what extent) acts as a subordinating conjunction. It introduces an indirect question, which means it kicks the conjugated verb of that clause, profitieren, to the very end of the sentence.
Could I use inwiefern instead of inwieweit here?
Yes, they are essentially interchangeable in this context. Inwieweit technically asks about the degree or extent (how much do they profit?), whereas inwiefern asks about the manner (in what way do they profit?). In everyday German, however, native speakers use them freely to mean the same thing.
Why is the verb profitieren separated so far from its subject, die Produzenten?
This is a great example of German clause nesting. The relative clause die wir bezahlen (who we pay) must sit right next to the noun it describes, die Produzenten. Because inwieweit already pushed profitieren to the end of its own clause, the relative clause just gets sandwiched in the middle.
Why are there three commas in such a short sentence?
German has very strict comma rules for separating clauses. The first comma separates the main clause (Wir fragen) from the subordinate clause starting with inwieweit. The next two commas act exactly like parentheses to wall off the relative clause (die wir bezahlen).
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