Breakdown of Der Natur zuliebe verzichten wir auf überflüssigen Besitz.
wir
we
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
verzichten auf
to give up
die Natur
the nature
zuliebe
for the sake of
der Besitz
the possession
überflüssig
superfluous
Questions & Answers about Der Natur zuliebe verzichten wir auf überflüssigen Besitz.
Why does zuliebe come after Der Natur instead of before it?
The word zuliebe (for the sake of) is a postposition. This means it acts just like a preposition, but it is placed after the noun it refers to. It always requires the dative case, which is why we use the feminine dative der Natur here.
Is Der Natur zuliebe considered a single block for the sentence's word order?
Yes. Even though it is three words long, Der Natur zuliebe forms a single prepositional phrase. It completely occupies position 1 in the sentence, which is why the conjugated verb verzichten correctly follows it in position 2.
Why do we use the preposition auf in this sentence?
The verb verzichten (to do without, to give up) always pairs with the preposition auf when stating what you are abstaining from. As a fixed verb-preposition pair, verzichten auf always forces the object following it into the accusative case.
Why does the adjective überflüssigen end in -en here?
Because verzichten auf requires the accusative, the masculine noun Besitz is in the accusative case. When there is no article before a noun, its adjective must take a strong ending to show the gender and case. The strong ending for the masculine accusative is -en, giving us überflüssigen.
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