Breakdown of Die Marktmacht zweier Startups wächst, was die Konkurrenz nervös macht.
machen
to make, to do
zwei
two
nervös
nervous
wachsen
to grow
was
which (referring to a whole clause)
das Startup
the startup
die Konkurrenz
the competition (business, competitors)
die Marktmacht
the market power
Questions & Answers about Die Marktmacht zweier Startups wächst, was die Konkurrenz nervös macht.
Why is the ending -er added to zwei here?
In German, the numbers zwei and drei can take endings to show the genitive case. Because there is no article before the startups to indicate the case, zwei takes the -er ending to become zweier. This clearly signals 'of two startups'.
Why does the second clause start with was instead of a relative pronoun like das or die?
When a relative pronoun refers back to an entire phrase, action, or idea—in this case, the whole fact that the market power is growing—you must use was. If it were referring back to a specific neuter noun, you would use das, but here it captures the preceding situation.
Is die Konkurrenz considered singular or plural here?
It is strictly singular, which is why the verb is macht and not machen. Die Konkurrenz is a collective noun meaning 'the competition'. Even though it implies multiple competing companies, it is grammatically treated as one single entity.
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