Breakdown of Mein Ehrgeiz ist es, die Jury zu überzeugen.
sein
to be
es
it
mein
my
zu
to (infinitive marker)
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
überzeugen
to convince
der Ehrgeiz
the ambition
die Jury
the jury
Questions & Answers about Mein Ehrgeiz ist es, die Jury zu überzeugen.
Usually, a zu-infinitive clause needs to share a subject with the main clause. Here, the main subject is Mein Ehrgeiz, but the implied subject of the infinitive is 'I'. Why is this allowed?
Great observation! While the grammatical subject of the main clause is Mein Ehrgeiz (my ambition), the possessive pronoun mein clearly identifies who is performing the action. With nouns expressing a personal goal, wish, or plan (like mein Ziel or mein Wunsch), this possessive link is strong enough to satisfy the subject identity rule.
What is the exact function of es in the phrase Mein Ehrgeiz ist es?
It acts as a placeholder that points forward to the infinitive clause. It essentially says: 'My ambition is this: to convince the jury.' This anticipatory es is very common in German when a noun and the verb sein introduce an infinitive clause.
Could I use a dass-clause here instead of an infinitive clause with zu?
You could grammatically say Mein Ehrgeiz ist es, dass ich die Jury überzeuge, but it sounds extremely clunky. Because the subject is already obvious from the word mein, native speakers will almost always reduce this to a zu-clause. Using dass here feels unnecessarily repetitive.
Why is the verb überzeugen used here instead of überreden?
These two verbs are often confused by learners! überzeugen means to convince someone by making them believe the truth or logic of your argument, which is exactly what you do with a jury. überreden means to coax or persuade someone into taking an action, often when they initially do not want to.
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