Breakdown of Vertrauen ist mir sehr wichtig.
sein
to be
sehr
very
wichtig
important
mir
me / to me (dative)
das Vertrauen
the trust
Questions & Answers about Vertrauen ist mir sehr wichtig.
Why is Vertrauen used without an article here? I thought abstract nouns usually needed one in German.
While it is true that abstract concepts often take a definite article in German (like das Leben for life), it is not a strict rule. When making broad, universal statements, you can often drop the article just like in English. Using Das Vertrauen ist mir sehr wichtig would also be grammatically correct but sounds slightly more specific, as if referring to a specific instance of trust.
Why do we use the dative mir here instead of für mich?
The adjective wichtig (important) pairs directly with a dative object to show to whom something matters. The structure is etwas ist jemandem wichtig. You certainly can say wichtig für mich (important for me), but using the dative mir is the more natural and common choice for native speakers.
Does the prefix ver- in Vertrauen behave like the prefixes hinter- and wider- that we are currently studying?
Yes! Vertrauen (to trust) is built with the inseparable prefix ver-. Just like the prefixes hinter- and wider- featured in this lesson, an inseparable prefix stays firmly attached to the root word. If you use it as a verb, you say Ich vertraue dir rather than separating the prefix at the end of the sentence.
Can I change the word order to emphasize that trust is important specifically to me?
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