Breakdown of Er machte deutlich, dass er nicht einverstanden war.
sein
to be
nicht
not
dass
that
einverstanden
agreed, in agreement
deutlich machen
to make clear
Questions & Answers about Er machte deutlich, dass er nicht einverstanden war.
How does deutlich machen relate to the perspective shifts we are learning in this lesson?
deutlich machen (to make clear) is an active, transitive expression where a subject actively clarifies something. Its intransitive pair is deutlich werden (to become clear), which shifts the perspective to the information itself. For example, he takes action (er machte deutlich), which results in the situation becoming clear to others (es wurde deutlich).
Is there a noun-verb support construction for einverstanden sein if we want to focus on the active declaration?
Yes! While einverstanden sein describes the state of being in agreement, the active process of formally giving your agreement is expressed with the support construction sich einverstanden erklären (literally: to declare oneself agreed).
Why do we use einverstanden war instead of a single past-tense verb for "agreed"?
German rarely uses a single verb for "to agree" in the sense of being okay with a plan or sharing a view. Instead, it uses the adjective einverstanden with the verb sein. You literally express that someone is in a state of agreement.
Could you say Er machte es deutlich, dass... using es as a placeholder?
Yes, adding es is grammatically correct and acts as a placeholder pointing forward to the dass clause. However, leaving es out is completely standard and often preferred because it makes the sentence flow more smoothly.
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