Learn Hardcore German: Die Hochschule fordert, dass wir alle Unterlagen digital einreichen. - The university requires that we submit all documents digitally.

Hochschule is a general term for an institution of higher education—think “college” or “university.” In German it can cover both Universitäten (research universities) and Fachhochschulen (universities of applied sciences), but most translations just use “university.”

What role does dass play in this sentence?

dass is a subordinating conjunction introducing a dependent clause. It links the main statement Die Hochschule fordert (“the university demands”) with the content of that demand. In German, a dass-clause pushes its finite verb (here part of einreichen) to the end.

Why is the verb einreichen placed at the end?

Because it’s inside a subordinate (dependent) clause introduced by dass. German subordinate clauses follow a verb-final word order, so the infinitive einreichen appears in last position.

What case is alle Unterlagen in, and why?

It’s accusative plural. The verb einreichen (“to submit”) takes a direct object, and alle Unterlagen (“all documents”) is exactly what is being submitted, so it gets the accusative.

Is digital an adjective here? Why doesn’t it change form?

In this sentence digital works as an adverb (“digitally”). Adverbs in German are uninflected, so digital remains the same. If you wanted an adjective describing a noun (e.g. “digitized documents”), you would write digitale Unterlagen with an ending.

Why is there a comma before dass?

German always separates a main clause from a subordinate clause with a comma. Any time you use dass, you must put a comma in front of it.

Could I rephrase this with auffordern instead of fordern?

Yes. You could say
“Die Hochschule fordert uns auf, alle Unterlagen digital einzureichen.”
Here auffordern is a separable verb: you need the pronoun uns and then auf goes to the end of the main clause. After that comes the infinitive clause with einreichen.

Can I replace fordern with verlangen?

Absolutely. verlangen is a close synonym meaning “to demand/require.”
“Die Hochschule verlangt, dass wir alle Unterlagen digital einreichen.”
The nuance is almost identical; verlangen can even sound a bit stronger or more formal.

Why isn’t there a possessive like unsere Unterlagen (“our documents”)?

In context it’s understood that alle Unterlagen refers to the documents the students/applicants must submit. Adding unsere (our) is possible but often redundant, because “all documents” in this sentence already implies “all the documents we need to hand in.”