Breakdown of Der Einfachheit zuliebe ist es am besten, loszulassen.
sein
to be
es
it
zu
to (infinitive marker)
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
am besten
best (of all); it would be best to
die Einfachheit
the simplicity
zuliebe
for the sake of
loslassen
to let go
Questions & Answers about Der Einfachheit zuliebe ist es am besten, loszulassen.
Why is zuliebe placed after Der Einfachheit rather than before it?
The word zuliebe (for the sake of) is a postposition, meaning it is always placed after the noun it refers to. Like many prepositions, it dictates the case of the noun, and zuliebe requires the dative case.
Since Einfachheit means 'simplicity', why does it use the article der? Isn't der masculine?
All German nouns ending in -heit are feminine, so the standard article is die (die Einfachheit). However, because zuliebe forces the noun into the dative case, the feminine article die changes to der.
Why do we say am besten instead of das Beste here?
When a superlative adjective is used to describe how an action is done or as a standalone predicate (describing a state without directly attaching to a noun), you use the structure am + -en. Therefore, 'it is best' translates to es ist am besten.
Why is zu right in the middle of the word loszulassen?
The verb loslassen (to let go) is a separable verb made of the prefix los- and the verb lassen. In an infinitive clause with zu (meaning 'to let go'), the zu is inserted directly between the separable prefix and the main verb, merging them into a single word: loszulassen.
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