Breakdown of Die Firma spezialisiert sich auf Software.
die Firma
the company
die Software
the software
sich spezialisieren auf
to specialise in
Questions & Answers about Die Firma spezialisiert sich auf Software.
Why is the verb reflexive (sich spezialisieren)?
Unlike in English, the German verb spezialisieren requires a reflexive pronoun when a subject is developing a specialty. You can think of it literally as the company specializing itself. If you drop sich, the sentence is grammatically incomplete.
Why do we use auf instead of in for 'specialises in'?
Many German verbs are strictly paired with specific prepositions that do not match English. The phrase 'to specialize in' is always sich spezialisieren auf, which requires the following noun or pronoun to be in the accusative case.
Could I use a word like Unternehmen here instead of Firma?
Yes, Unternehmen (enterprise or corporation) and Betrieb (business or workplace) are very common synonyms. Firma is the standard, everyday word for a company, whereas Unternehmen sounds slightly more formal or implies a larger organization.
Does the loanword Software have a gender, and why is there no article here?
As a loanword, it takes the feminine gender (die Software). However, because the sentence refers to software in a broad, general sense as an uncountable concept, German drops the article entirely, just like English does.
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