Breakdown of Dieses Kapitel ist leicht zu übersetzen, aber schwer zu schreiben.
sein
to be
aber
but
schreiben
to write
dieses
this
Questions & Answers about Dieses Kapitel ist leicht zu übersetzen, aber schwer zu schreiben.
What grammar pattern is “leicht zu übersetzen / schwer zu schreiben”?
It’s the pattern: sein + adjective + zu + infinitive. It expresses how easy/difficult something is to do, roughly “easy/hard to [verb].” Here, the adjectives are predicate adjectives (leicht, schwer), and the zu-infinitive is their complement.
Who is the doer of “übersetzen” and “schreiben” here?
The agent is implicit and generic (like English “one/you/people”). Logically, the subject “Dieses Kapitel” is the object of the infinitives: “It’s easy for someone to translate this chapter, but hard for someone to write it.”
Why is “zu” used before the infinitives? Is it the same “zu” as in “um … zu”?
Here “zu” is the infinitival marker (not a preposition). It just forms a non-finite clause: zu übersetzen, zu schreiben. It is not the purpose construction “um … zu,” which means “in order to.”
Can I omit the second “zu” and say “..., aber schwer schreiben”?
No, not in this construction. Each adjective needs its own zu-infinitive: “… leicht zu übersetzen, aber schwer zu schreiben.” Omitting “zu” would be ungrammatical here.
Why is there a comma before “aber”?
In German, a comma is required before “aber” when it links (equivalent to) main clauses. The second part is a reduced clause (“[ist] schwer zu schreiben”), so the comma is still required.