Breakdown of Der Chef macht seinen Mitarbeitern zu viel Druck.
viel
much / a lot
der Chef
the boss (male)
sein
his
zu
too (e.g., too big)
der Mitarbeiter
the employee (male)
Druck machen
to put on pressure
Questions & Answers about Der Chef macht seinen Mitarbeitern zu viel Druck.
Why does the German sentence use macht when the English translation says 'puts'?
This is a fixed noun-verb combination (Nomen-Verb-Verbindung). While in English you 'put pressure' on someone, in German you literally 'make pressure' (Druck machen). These combinations are set phrases, so you have to learn the specific verb that pairs with the noun rather than translating word-for-word.
Why is seinen Mitarbeitern in the dative case?
The fixed phrase is jemandem Druck machen (to put pressure on someone). The person receiving the pressure acts as the indirect object, which requires the dative case. The direct object (in the accusative case) is the pressure (Druck) that is being 'made'.
Why does the plural noun Mitarbeitern end with an -n here?
In German, plural nouns almost always add an extra -n in the dative case, unless the plural already ends in -n or -s. Since seinen Mitarbeitern is in the dative plural, the base plural form Mitarbeiter gets that extra -n at the end.
Why doesn't viel have an adjective ending like vielen to match the accusative noun Druck?
When viel (much) or wenig (little) is used right before an uncountable, singular noun like Druck (pressure), it does not take an ending. It just stays as the uninflected word viel.
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