Breakdown of Üben sollte man jeden Stoß, auch wenn man schon präzise ist.
sein
to be
schon
already
man
one / you (impersonal)
sollen
should / ought to
jeder
everyone / each
üben
to practice
präzise
precise
auch wenn
even if
der Stoß
the stroke
Questions & Answers about Üben sollte man jeden Stoß, auch wenn man schon präzise ist.
Why is the infinitive Üben at the very beginning of the sentence?
This is called topicalization. By pulling the infinitive Üben into Position 1, the sentence puts heavy emphasis on the action itself. It highlights that practicing is the crucial thing to do. Whenever you move a verb to the front like this, the conjugated verb (here, sollte) strictly remains in Position 2.
What would the standard, neutral word order look like?
In a neutral statement, the subject usually comes first and the infinitive stays at the end: Man sollte jeden Stoß üben. Moving Üben to the front makes the statement much more emphatic.
Is sollte in the past tense here?
It looks exactly like the simple past (Präteritum) of sollen, but here it functions as the subjunctive II (Konjunktiv II) to give a recommendation. In English, it translates present-tense advice: "should" rather than the past-tense "was supposed to".
Why is it jeden Stoß instead of jeder Stoß?
Stoß (stroke/push) is a masculine noun. Because it is the direct object receiving the action of the verb üben, it must be in the accusative case. Therefore, the determiner takes the masculine accusative -en ending.
Why does ist go to the very end of the second clause?
The phrase auch wenn (even if) acts as a subordinating conjunction. Subordinating conjunctions always kick the conjugated verb, which is ist here, to the very end of their clause.
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