Breakdown of Wir schützen die Gesundheit dadurch, dass wir das Schneidebrett gründlich desinfizieren.
wir
we
schützen
to protect
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
die Gesundheit
the health
gründlich
thorough
desinfizieren
to disinfect
dadurch, dass
by the fact that
das Schneidebrett
the cutting board
Questions & Answers about Wir schützen die Gesundheit dadurch, dass wir das Schneidebrett gründlich desinfizieren.
Since the subject (wir) is the same in both clauses, how could we shorten this sentence into an elliptical clause?
Because the subject is the same, you can drop the second wir and use an infinitive clause. The shortened sentence becomes: Wir schützen die Gesundheit dadurch, das Schneidebrett gründlich zu desinfizieren.
Why do we need the word dadurch here? Can't we just say dass?
You need dadurch as a placeholder in the main clause. It literally means 'through that' and points forward to the action in the dass-clause. English simply says 'by disinfecting', but German often uses a da-word to connect a prepositional idea to a full subordinate clause.
Could I use indem instead of dadurch, dass in this sentence?
Yes! indem is a very common conjunction for expressing 'by doing something'. You could rewrite the sentence as: Wir schützen die Gesundheit, indem wir das Schneidebrett gründlich desinfizieren. Just keep in mind that unlike dadurch, an indem clause cannot be shortened into a zu-infinitive clause.
Why does the German sentence say die Gesundheit when the English translation just says 'health'?
In German, abstract concepts and general categories (like health, nature, or life) usually take a definite article. English typically drops the article when talking about these concepts in a general sense.
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