Breakdown of Ich überrede den Sopran, die Melodie zu singen.
ich
I
singen
to sing
zu
to (infinitive marker)
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
die Melodie
the melody
der Sopran
the soprano
überreden
to persuade
Questions & Answers about Ich überrede den Sopran, die Melodie zu singen.
How does the rule of object identity apply to this sentence?
In the main clause, the person being persuaded (den Sopran) is the accusative object. In the dependent clause, that exact same person is the implied subject who will be doing the singing. Because the main clause object and the implied dependent subject are identical, we can drop the subject in the second half and reduce it to a zu infinitive clause instead of using a full dass clause.
Why is it den Sopran (masculine) if a soprano is typically a female singer?
In German, all musical voice types are grammatically masculine regardless of who sings them: der Sopran, der Alt, der Tenor, and der Bass. If you wanted to specifically refer to the female singer herself rather than her vocal role, you would use the feminine noun die Sopranistin.
Does the verb überreden always take the accusative case?
Yes, the person you are persuading is always the accusative object. This is why the masculine noun der Sopran changes to den Sopran. You persuade someone (accusative) to do something, which is then expressed by the infinitive clause with zu.
Could I use a dass clause for this sentence instead?
Grammatically, you could say Ich überrede den Sopran, dass er die Melodie singt. However, native speakers strongly prefer the zu infinitive clause when the object identity rule allows it, as it sounds much less clunky. Also, notice that if you did use the dass clause, you would have to use the masculine pronoun er to refer back to the grammatically masculine der Sopran!
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