Breakdown of Im Workshop arbeiten wir in kleinen Gruppen, was mir für mein Selbstvertrauen sehr hilft.
Questions & Answers about Im Workshop arbeiten wir in kleinen Gruppen, was mir für mein Selbstvertrauen sehr hilft.
Im is simply the contracted form of in dem.
- in = in
- dem = the (dative, masculine or neuter)
- in + dem → im
Workshop is masculine (der Workshop). After in, you use:
- dative when it’s about location (where something happens)
- accusative when it’s about movement (to where something goes)
Here it’s location (where we work), so dative is used: in dem Workshop → im Workshop.
German main clauses follow the verb-second (V2) rule: the finite verb must be in second position in the sentence.
Elements are counted in chunks, not by individual words:
- Im Workshop (one adverbial phrase = first position)
- arbeiten (finite verb = must be second)
- wir (subject comes after the verb)
So:
- Wir arbeiten im Workshop … (subject first)
- Im Workshop arbeiten wir … (adverbial first, subject after verb)
Both are correct; the second version puts a bit more emphasis on Im Workshop.
Again, this is about case with the preposition in.
- With location (where?): in takes dative.
- With direction (into where?): in takes accusative.
Here we’re describing where we work (no movement), so it’s dative plural:
- Nominative plural: kleine Gruppen
- Dative plural: kleinen Gruppen
There is no article before Gruppen, so the ending -en on kleinen marks the dative plural:
- in kleinen Gruppen = in small groups (dative plural, no article)
Gruppen is plural because the idea is that the participants are divided into several small groups, not all in one group together.
- Wir arbeiten in kleinen Gruppen = we split up into several small groups.
- Wir arbeiten in einer kleinen Gruppe would mean everybody is in one small group (or that you are just describing your own single group).
So plural matches the usual workshop situation more naturally.
No, was here is not a conjunction like “because”. It is a relative pronoun meaning roughly “which” in English.
- Im Workshop arbeiten wir in kleinen Gruppen, was mir … hilft.
= We work in small groups in the workshop, *which helps me a lot with my self-confidence.*
This is a relative clause commenting on the whole preceding statement.
Because it’s a relative clause, the finite verb goes to the end: … was mir … sehr hilft.
German uses was as a relative pronoun when it refers to:
- a whole clause or situation
- a neuter pronoun like das referring to something unspecific
- words like alles, nichts, etwas, vieles (e.g. alles, was …)
Here, was refers to the entire previous clause:
- Antecedent: Im Workshop arbeiten wir in kleinen Gruppen
- Relative pronoun for a whole clause: was
You can’t comfortably say:
- ✗ …, das mir für mein Selbstvertrauen sehr hilft.
because das normally refers back to a single neuter noun, not to a whole situation.
If you really want das, you would typically start a new sentence:
- Im Workshop arbeiten wir in kleinen Gruppen. Das hilft mir sehr für mein Selbstvertrauen.
This is a relative clause, so the finite verb goes to the end:
- was – relative pronoun (subject of hilft)
- mir – dative pronoun (indirect object)
- für mein Selbstvertrauen – prepositional phrase
- sehr – adverb (degree)
- hilft – finite verb at the end
General tendencies:
- In subordinate clauses, the verb is final.
- Short pronouns like mir, dir, ihm often come early in the clause.
- sehr stands directly before the verb it modifies: sehr hilft.
Other slight re-orderings exist (was mir sehr für mein Selbstvertrauen hilft), but the given order sounds natural and clear.
Because für always takes the accusative case in German.
- für + accusative
Selbstvertrauen is neuter:
- Nominative: mein Selbstvertrauen
- Accusative: mein Selbstvertrauen (same form for neuter)
- Dative: meinem Selbstvertrauen
Since für requires the accusative, you must use mein, not meinem:
- für mein Selbstvertrauen = for my self-confidence (accusative)
- für meinem Selbstvertrauen is grammatically wrong.
Both can translate as “self-confidence”, but there is a nuance:
Selbstvertrauen
- literally: trust in yourself
- focus: believing in your own abilities, feeling you can cope with things
- typical in contexts like: Mut, Sicherheit, Stärke, Auftritt, Prüfung
Selbstbewusstsein
- literally: being conscious/aware of yourself
- focus: awareness of your own worth, sometimes also how you appear to others
- can mean confidence, but also “self-awareness” in a more general sense
In many everyday contexts they overlap, and both would be understood.
Here Selbstvertrauen fits very well, because the small-group work helps the speaker feel more confident in themselves and what they can do.
The verb is helfen (to help), which is irregular:
- ich helfe
- du hilfst
- er/sie/es hilft
- wir helfen
- ihr helft
- sie/Sie helfen
In the clause was mir … sehr hilft, the subject is was, which is 3rd person singular.
So you must use the 3rd person singular form hilft.