Breakdown of Zweitens setzen Sie klare Prioritäten für Ihren Erfolg.
Sie
you (formal)
Ihr
your (formal)
für
for
der Erfolg
the success
setzen
to set / to sit (someone)
klar
clear; obvious
zweitens
secondly
die Priorität
the priority
Questions & Answers about Zweitens setzen Sie klare Prioritäten für Ihren Erfolg.
How does the word zweitens affect the word order in this sentence?
Because zweitens (secondly) is an adverb and occupies the first position in the sentence, the verb setzen must come immediately after it in the second position. The subject Sie is then pushed to the third position. This is the standard verb-second rule in German.
Is zweitens capitalized just because it starts the sentence, or is it a noun?
It is capitalized here only because it is the first word. Words ending in -ens like erstens and zweitens are adverbs derived from ordinal numbers, not nouns. If it appeared later in the sentence, it would be written in lowercase.
setzen Sie looks exactly like a formal command. Could this sentence also mean Secondly, set clear priorities for your success?
Yes, absolutely! Because the formal imperative uses the exact same word order (verb followed by Sie) as a statement with inverted word order, only the wider context tells you if it is a statement (you set) or a command (set!).
Why does the adjective klare end in -e here?
Prioritäten is a plural noun in the accusative case. Since there is no article before it, the adjective takes the strong ending -e to show the plural accusative case on its own.
Why is it Ihren Erfolg instead of Ihrem Erfolg?
The preposition für always triggers the accusative case. Since Erfolg is a masculine noun (der Erfolg), the formal possessive pronoun Ihr changes to the accusative masculine form Ihren.
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