Breakdown of Im Grunde genommen hat er recht.
haben
to have
recht haben
to be right
im Grunde genommen
basically, when it comes down to it
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Questions & Answers about Im Grunde genommen hat er recht.
How does Im Grunde genommen translate to "basically", and what is it literally saying?
It is a fixed idiom that translates perfectly to "basically", "fundamentally", or "strictly speaking". Literally, it means "taken in the ground" or "taken at the base". You will also frequently hear native speakers drop the participle and just use im Grunde to mean the exact same thing.
Why is the verb hat placed right after genommen?
The entire phrase Im Grunde genommen acts as a single adverbial block that occupies the first position in the sentence. Because German main clauses strictly require the conjugated verb in the second position, hat must immediately follow the introductory phrase, pushing the subject er into the third position.
Why isn't recht capitalized here? I thought it was a noun meaning "right" or "law".
When expressing the idea of "being right", German spelling rules officially allow both recht haben (treating it like an adjective or adverb) and Recht haben (treating it as a noun). Both are completely correct and commonly used, so seeing it in lowercase here is completely standard.
Where else could I place im Grunde genommen in this sentence?
Putting it at the start is very natural for setting the tone, but you can also place it in the middle of the sentence right after the conjugated verb and subject. That version would be: Er hat im Grunde genommen recht. Sticking it at the very end of the sentence, however, would sound clumsy to a native speaker.