Breakdown of Er brachte seine Kritik höflich zum Ausdruck.
sein
his
höflich
polite
die Kritik
the criticism
zum Ausdruck bringen
to express, to give voice to
Questions & Answers about Er brachte seine Kritik höflich zum Ausdruck.
Why does the sentence use zum Ausdruck bringen instead of just the verb ausdrücken?
The phrase etwas zum Ausdruck bringen is a Nomen-Verb-Verbindung (noun-verb construction). It means the exact same thing as the verb etwas ausdrücken (to express something), but these constructions are often used in formal, academic, or professional German to make a statement sound more elegant or official.
Why is zum Ausdruck placed at the very end of the sentence?
In a noun-verb construction, the fixed prepositional phrase (here, zum Ausdruck) functions similarly to a separable verb prefix. In a standard main clause, the conjugated verb (brachte) takes the second position, and the fixed noun phrase gets pushed to the very end of the sentence.
What case is seine Kritik in, and how does it fit into the construction?
It is in the accusative case. Even though it is part of a complex noun-verb construction, the base verb bringen still dictates the grammar. The thing you are expressing is simply added as the direct accusative object, just like it would be if you used the base verb on its own.
Why is it zum Ausdruck and not just zu Ausdruck?
The preposition zu always triggers the dative case. The noun is masculine (der Ausdruck), so it takes the dative article dem. In this fixed expression, zu and dem merge into the mandatory contraction zum.
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