Breakdown of Im Büro lassen wir uns die neue Software vom Techniker installieren.
Questions & Answers about Im Büro lassen wir uns die neue Software vom Techniker installieren.
In Im Büro lassen wir uns die neue Software vom Techniker installieren, lassen is used in its causative meaning:
- lassen + object + infinitive = to have something done / to get something done.
So:
- wir lassen … installieren = we have (something) installed / we get (something) installed.
The full structure is:
- wir – the people who cause/arrange the action
- lassen – “have” / “get (done)”
- uns – for us (beneficiary)
- die neue Software – the thing that is installed
- vom Techniker – by the technician
- installieren – the action carried out
Natural English equivalents:
- At the office, we have the new software installed by the technician.
- More idiomatic: At the office, we get the technician to install the new software (for us).
They are the same person (1st person plural), but in different cases and functions:
- wir = nominative (subject) → the ones who arrange it
- uns = dative reflexive pronoun → the ones who benefit from the action
Pattern: sich etwas machen lassen = to have something done for oneself.
Examples:
- Wir lassen uns die neue Software installieren.
→ We have the new software installed for us. - Ich lasse mir die Haare schneiden.
→ I have my hair cut (for myself). - Er lässt sich das Paket nach Hause schicken.
→ He has the parcel sent to his home (for himself).
So uns says: the ones who profit from this installation are we ourselves.
No. It does not mean we let ourselves be installed.
Why not?
- The verb installieren is acting on die neue Software, not on uns.
- die neue Software is the accusative object (direct object).
- uns here is dative (beneficiary), not the thing being installed.
The structure is:
- wir – subject
- uns – dative “for us”
- die neue Software – direct object being installed
- installieren – action done to the software
A strange sentence that would literally mean “We let ourselves be installed” is:
- Wir lassen uns installieren.
(no other object; we let ourselves be installed – grammatically possible but semantically odd)
In the original sentence, the only thing that gets installed is die neue Software, not us.
Yes, that’s grammatically correct:
- Im Büro lassen wir die neue Software vom Techniker installieren.
Meaning-wise:
With uns:
Im Büro lassen wir uns die neue Software vom Techniker installieren.
→ At the office, we have the technician install the new software for us. (benefit is explicit)Without uns:
Im Büro lassen wir die neue Software vom Techniker installieren.
→ At the office, we have the technician install the new software. (benefit is usually clear from context, but less explicitly “for us”)
So uns is optional here; it adds a bit of emphasis that we are the beneficiaries, and the pattern sich etwas machen lassen sounds very natural and idiomatic.
This follows the German verb-second rule and the “verb bracket” pattern:
In a main clause, the conjugated verb (here lassen) must be in second position:
- Im Büro (position 1)
- lassen (position 2)
Other elements go into the middle field:
- wir uns die neue Software vom Techniker
The infinitive (installieren) goes to the end of the clause.
So the structure is:
- Im Büro | lassen | wir uns die neue Software vom Techniker | installieren.
This is the standard word order whenever you have lassen + infinitive, or other multi-verb combinations (e.g. müssen installieren, wollen installieren, etc.).
die neue Software is in the accusative case (direct object).
Why?
- The subject is clearly wir (1st person plural), matching the verb lassen.
- The thing that is being installed is die neue Software → that’s the direct object of installieren (and also of the causative construction with lassen).
- For feminine nouns, die looks the same in nominative and accusative singular, so you recognize the case by function, not by the article form.
So functionally:
- wir – nominative (subject)
- uns – dative (beneficiary)
- die neue Software – accusative (thing installed)
vom Techniker = von dem Techniker → by the technician.
- von always takes the dative case.
- dem is the dative singular masculine article for der Techniker.
- von + dem contracts to vom in everyday German.
So:
- von dem Techniker → normal, slightly more formal
- vom Techniker → standard contracted form, very common
Meaning-wise, it’s the agent: the person who actually does the installation.
In passive or causative constructions, German usually uses:
- von + dative to express the agent (doer), especially a person
- durch + accusative more for means, cause, or instrument
So:
Die Software wird von einem Techniker installiert.
→ installed by a technician (agent)Die Stadt wurde durch ein Erdbeben zerstört.
→ destroyed by an earthquake (cause)
You can say durch den Techniker, but it tends to sound like the technician is a kind of tool or means, which is unusual or slightly off in normal German. von / vom Techniker is the idiomatic choice here.
Yes. The only restriction is that the conjugated verb stays in second position. Some natural variants are:
Im Büro lassen wir uns die neue Software vom Techniker installieren.
(original; emphasis on in the office)Wir lassen uns im Büro die neue Software vom Techniker installieren.
(neutral, very typical spoken word order)Wir lassen uns die neue Software im Büro vom Techniker installieren.
(slightly more emphasis on the software, im Büro and vom Techniker in the “detail zone”)
All of these are correct. Fronting Im Büro (putting it first) highlights the location as the starting point of the information: As for the office, there we have the software installed…
A passive version that focuses on the software and the action (not on us as the arrangers) would be:
- Im Büro wird die neue Software vom Techniker installiert.
→ At the office, the new software is (being) installed by the technician.
Differences:
lassen + Infinitiv (Im Büro lassen wir uns … installieren):
- Focus on our decision/arrangement.
- Explicit subject wir who cause the action.
werden-Passiv (Im Büro wird die neue Software … installiert):
- Focus on the process and the software.
- The people who ordered it (us) can be omitted completely.
Trying to combine both (“the software is let be installed by us by the technician”) is technically possible but extremely clumsy in German and not used in real life.
Yes. In German, the present tense (Präsens) is often used for near future actions, especially when there is a time expression or the context makes it clear.
For example:
- Morgen lassen wir uns im Büro die neue Software vom Techniker installieren.
→ Literally: Tomorrow we let (present) the technician install the new software for us in the office.
→ Naturally: Tomorrow we’re going to have the technician install the new software at the office.
You can say:
- Morgen werden wir uns im Büro die neue Software vom Techniker installieren lassen.
but in everyday German, the simple present (lassen wir … installieren) is very common and usually preferred if the time is clear from context.
In German, Software is generally:
- singular
- feminine → die Software
It’s usually treated as an uncountable mass noun, like milk or water:
- die neue Software – the new software (package/version)
- viel Software – a lot of software
- neue Software installieren – to install new software
So die here is the feminine singular article, not a plural marker. If you want to count individual programs, you typically use Programme:
- drei Programme installieren – to install three programs.