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Breakdown of Ich erkläre ihm, dass dieses kleine Ding wichtig für unsere Sicherheit ist.
sein
to be
ich
I
dass
that
für
for
unsere
our
wichtig
important
dieses
this
klein
little
erklären
to explain
ihm
him
das Ding
the thing
die Sicherheit
the safety
Questions & Answers about Ich erkläre ihm, dass dieses kleine Ding wichtig für unsere Sicherheit ist.
Why is ihm used instead of ihn?
Because erklären in German follows the pattern jemandem etwas erklären (“to explain something to someone”). The person who is receiving the explanation must be in the dative case. ihm is the dative form of er, whereas ihn would be accusative.
Why is the verb ist at the end of the sentence?
This is a subordinate clause introduced by dass. In German subordinate clauses, the finite verb always moves to the very end. So you get dass ... ist instead of dass ist ....
Why do we use dass here, and how is it different from das?
dass (with double s) is a conjunction meaning “that,” used to introduce subordinate clauses. das (single s) can be either the neuter definite article (“the”) or a demonstrative/relative pronoun. A quick trick: if you can replace it with “which” or “this,” it’s das; if you’re linking clauses like “I explain to him that…,” it’s dass.
Why is there a comma before dass?
In German orthography, you must separate main and subordinate clauses with a comma when the subordinate clause is introduced by conjunctions such as dass, weil, obwohl, etc.
Why is it dieses kleine Ding and not dieser kleines Ding?
Ding is a neuter noun (das Ding). When you use a demonstrative determiner like dieses in the nominative, it already shows the gender and case ending. Adjectives following a “strong” or “demonstrative” determiner take the “weak” ending -e in nominative neuter. Hence dieses (neuter nom.) + kleine (weak ending) + Ding.
Why isn't wichtig given an ending like wichtiger or wichtiges?
Here wichtig is used predicatively (part of the verb phrase “is important”), not attributively before a noun. Predicative adjectives in German remain uninflected: es ist wichtig, das ist wichtig, without extra endings.
What case is für unsere Sicherheit, and why is there no article before Sicherheit?
The preposition für always takes the accusative case. Sicherheit is feminine, so the accusative singular of unsere (our) is unsere. We don’t need a separate article because unsere is a possessive determiner that replaces the definite article.
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“How do German cases work?”
German has four grammatical cases: nominative (subject), accusative (direct object), dative (indirect object), and genitive (possession). The case determines the form of articles and adjectives. For example, "the dog" is "der Hund" as a subject but "den Hund" as a direct object.
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