Um später Ärztin zu werden, braucht meine Cousine ein gutes Abitur.

To become a doctor later, my cousin needs a good high school diploma.

Breakdown of Um später Ärztin zu werden, braucht meine Cousine ein gutes Abitur.

• brauchen: to need
• später: later
• werden: to become
• mein: my
• gut: good
• um ... zu: in order to
• ein: a; (neuter, accusative)
• die Ärztin: the doctor (female)
• die Cousine: the cousin (female)
• das Abitur: the high school diploma

Questions & Answers about Um später Ärztin zu werden, braucht meine Cousine ein gutes Abitur.

Why does the verb braucht come right after the comma instead of after meine Cousine?

German main clauses follow the verb-second (V2) rule: the conjugated verb must be in second position.

In this sentence, the first position is already taken by the entire um ... zu werden clause:

• First position: Um später Ärztin zu werden (the whole introductory clause)
• Second position (must be the finite verb): braucht
• Then comes the subject: meine Cousine
• Then the object: ein gutes Abitur

So the basic main clause is meine Cousine braucht ein gutes Abitur, but when you move the purpose clause to the front, the verb has to move to position 2, giving:

Um später Ärztin zu werden, braucht meine Cousine ein gutes Abitur.

What does the um ... zu construction mean here?

Um ... zu + infinitive expresses purpose in German, similar to “in order to …” in English.

• Um später Ärztin zu werden ≈ in order to become a doctor later

Structure:

• um
  • (optional extra words) + zu
    • infinitive (here: werden)

It answers the implicit question “For what purpose / with what aim?”

You could rephrase with a full clause using damit:

• Damit meine Cousine später Ärztin wird, braucht sie ein gutes Abitur.
  (So that my cousin will become a doctor later, she needs a good Abitur.)

Why is there a comma before braucht?

German punctuation rules require a comma between an infinitive clause with um … zu and the main clause.

• Infinitive purpose clause: Um später Ärztin zu werden
• Main clause: braucht meine Cousine ein gutes Abitur

These two clauses must be separated by a comma. In English you could choose to use a comma or not, but in German it’s mandatory here.

Why is there no article before Ärztin?

Professions, roles, and similar nouns used as a predicative complement (after sein, werden, bleiben, etc.) are normally used without an article in German when they are just stating someone’s role:

• Sie ist Ärztin. – She is a doctor.
• Er wird Lehrer. – He will become a teacher.

In the sentence, Ärztin is the predicative noun in the clause (meine Cousine) später Ärztin zu werden. So you do not say:

• ✗ um später eine Ärztin zu werden (sounds unusual in neutral, general statements)

You would only add an article if you qualify it in a special way, for example:

• Um später eine berühmte Ärztin zu werden, … – in order to become a famous doctor later…

Why is it Ärztin and not Arzt?

Ärztin is the feminine form of the profession:

• Arzt – male doctor / generic masculine form
• Ärztin – female doctor

Since meine Cousine refers to a female relative, German normally uses the corresponding feminine job title: Ärztin.

Using Arzt here would sound odd, because it would not match the clearly female person being described.

Which case is Ärztin, and what is its function in the clause?

Ärztin is in the nominative case and functions as a predicative noun (Prädikativ) linked to the subject by the verb werden.

If you expand the infinitive clause into a full clause, you get:

• … damit meine Cousine später Ärztin wird.

Here:

• Subject: meine Cousine (nominative)
• Verb: wird
• Predicative noun (nominative, describing the subject): Ärztin

In the infinitive version Ärztin zu werden, the same relationship is “hidden,” but the case and function are still the same: nominative predicative complement of the (understood) subject meine Cousine.

Why is it ein gutes Abitur and not just Abitur?

Several things are going on here:

1. Abitur is a countable concept in this context, more like “a school-leaving qualification / an exam result.” Saying ein gutes Abitur is similar to “a good grade/degree/score”.
2. The indefinite article ein is used because it’s not a specific, already known Abitur; it’s just “a good one” in general.
3. The adjective gut gets the ending -es (gutes), because:
   • Abitur is neuter,
   • ein has no ending in the neuter nominative/accusative,
   • so the adjective takes the strong ending -es: ein gutes Abitur.

Grammatically:

• braucht takes an accusative object → ein gutes Abitur is in the accusative.

Why is Abitur capitalized, and why is it ein gutes (not eine gute)?

• Abitur is a noun, and all nouns in German are capitalized.
• Abitur is grammatically neuter, so its article is das Abitur.
• The indefinite article in the accusative singular neuter is ein (same form as nominative).
• The adjective gut before a neuter noun with ein takes -es: ein gutes Abitur.

If the noun were feminine, you would have:

• eine gute Note – a good grade
  Neuter:
• ein gutes Abitur – a good Abitur (good final school qualification / grade)

Why use braucht instead of something like muss … haben?

Both are possible, but they have slightly different forms:

• Meine Cousine braucht ein gutes Abitur.
  – literally: My cousin needs a good Abitur.

• Meine Cousine muss ein gutes Abitur haben.
  – literally: My cousin must have a good Abitur.

Both express necessity, and in many contexts they are interchangeable. Subtle differences:

• brauchen + Akkusativ focuses on needing a thing.
• müssen + Infinitiv haben focuses on the obligation/requirement in a more abstract way.

In this sentence, brauchen is very natural because we’re talking about needing a qualification as a requirement.

Could the word order inside the um … zu clause be different, like Um Ärztin später zu werden?

Yes, you can move später around inside the infinitive clause:

• Um später Ärztin zu werden, … (most natural)
• Um Ärztin später zu werden, … (possible, but less common / slightly marked)

The default, most neutral order is:

1. time (später)
2. then the predicative noun (Ärztin)
3. then zu
   • infinitive (werden)

So Um später Ärztin zu werden is the best standard choice. Changing the order can sound stylistically unusual or add emphasis.

Why is it zu werden and not just werden?

German often uses zu + infinitive for infinitive clauses, especially with um, ohne, anstatt, etc.

• werden = “to become” (bare infinitive)
• zu werden = “to become” in an infinitive clause introduced by um

Pattern:

• um
  • … + zu
    • infinitive

So you must say:

• um … Ärztin zu werden
  not:
• ✗ um … Ärztin werden

Leaving out zu would be grammatically wrong here.

Could you also say Um später Ärztin zu sein instead of zu werden? What’s the difference?

Yes, grammatically you can say:

• Um später Ärztin zu sein, braucht meine Cousine ein gutes Abitur.

But there is a nuance:

• zu werden focuses on the process of becoming a doctor in the future.
• zu sein focuses more on the state of being a doctor at that later time.

In most real-life contexts about education and qualifications, zu werden is more natural, because the Abitur is a step in the process of becoming a doctor. So the original Um später Ärztin zu werden is stylistically the better choice here.

What exactly does später contribute here? Is it like “after that” or “later in life”?

Später is a vague, non-specific “later”:

• not a precise time,
• not necessarily directly “after this sentence’s action,”
• more like “at some later point in the future”, often understood as later in life here.

So:

• Um später Ärztin zu werden ≈ in order to become a doctor later (in life)

Words like nachher or dann would tie the time more strongly to a specific reference point; später keeps it general.