Breakdown of Dieser tiefgründige Mentor vermochte uns alle zu inspirieren.
wir
we
alle
all, everyone
dieser
this / that (fem.: diese, neut.: dieses)
zu
to (infinitive marker)
inspirieren
to inspire
vermögen
to be able to (formal)
der Mentor
the mentor
tiefgründig
profound
Questions & Answers about Dieser tiefgründige Mentor vermochte uns alle zu inspirieren.
Why do we use vermochte ... zu inspirieren instead of konnte ... inspirieren?
The verb vermögen combined with zu plus an infinitive is a formal, elevated way to express ability, often translated as having the power or capacity to do something. Unlike können, which takes a bare infinitive, vermögen requires zu before the infinitive. vermochte is its simple past tense form.
Why does the adjective tiefgründige end in -e instead of -er, since Mentor is a masculine noun?
Because it follows the determiner Dieser. The word Dieser already clearly shows the masculine nominative case with its -er ending. Since the case is already established, the following adjective takes the weak ending, which is just -e in the nominative.
Is vermochte a regular or irregular verb?
vermögen is a mixed verb. It changes its stem vowel in the past tense like a strong verb, but also takes the -te ending of a weak verb. It conjugates just like mögen (to like). The simple past is vermochte, and the past participle is vermocht.
Why does the sentence say uns alle rather than using a preposition like alle von uns?
In German, you directly combine personal pronouns with alle to mean 'all of us' or 'we all'. You simply say wir alle for the subject or uns alle for the accusative object, without needing a preposition like von (of).
Why is zu inspirieren at the very end of the sentence?
This follows the standard German sentence bracket structure. The conjugated verb vermochte takes the second position in this main clause, and its zu-infinitive complement is pushed to the very end, wrapping around the object uns alle.
Learn Dieser tiefgründige Mentor vermochte uns alle zu inspirieren and more in German
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free