Breakdown of In der Stellenausschreibung steht, dass Teamarbeit und Deutschkenntnisse wichtig sind.
Questions & Answers about In der Stellenausschreibung steht, dass Teamarbeit und Deutschkenntnisse wichtig sind.
In this context, steht literally means “stands”, but idiomatically it means “is written / is stated”.
German often uses stehen with things that are written or printed:
- In der Zeitung steht, dass … – It says in the newspaper that …
- Auf dem Schild steht „Rauchen verboten“. – The sign says “No smoking”.
Using ist here would sound wrong, because we are not saying “the job advertisement is that …” but rather “the job advertisement states that …”. So:
- In der Stellenausschreibung steht, dass … = The job advertisement says that …
The preposition in can take either:
- dative = location (where?)
- accusative = direction (where to?)
Here it describes a location (where something is written), so you use dative:
- Wo steht das? – In der Stellenausschreibung.
So:
- in der Stellenausschreibung = in the job advertisement (location, dative)
- in die Stellenausschreibung would mean into the job advertisement (movement, accusative), which doesn’t fit here.
- Stellenausschreibung is feminine, singular.
- Its base form is die Stellenausschreibung (nominative singular).
- After in (with a static location), we need the dative case.
The feminine singular definite article die changes like this:
- Nominative: die Stellenausschreibung
- Accusative: die Stellenausschreibung
- Dative: der Stellenausschreibung
- Genitive: der Stellenausschreibung
So der here is dative feminine singular, not masculine nominative.
Stellenausschreibung is a compound noun:
- die Stelle – position, post, job
- die Ausschreibung – announcement, tender, written invitation to apply
Put together, die Stellenausschreibung literally means something like “job announcement” and is typically used for a formal job posting, especially in more official or HR-related contexts.
A near-synonym you also see in everyday language is:
- die Stellenanzeige – job ad (e.g. in a newspaper or online portal)
dass introduces a subordinate clause (a dependent clause). In standard German, in most subordinate clauses the finite verb goes to the end.
Compare:
- Main clause: Teamarbeit und Deutschkenntnisse sind wichtig.
(Verb in second position.) - Subordinate clause: dass Teamarbeit und Deutschkenntnisse wichtig sind.
(Verb moved to the end.)
So the pattern is:
- In der Stellenausschreibung steht, dass … [verb at the end].
This is a central word-order rule in German: verb-final in most dass-clauses.
The subject of the dass-clause is Teamarbeit und Deutschkenntnisse. That’s two items joined by und, so it’s grammatically plural:
- Teamarbeit – singular
- Deutschkenntnisse – plural
- Together: Teamarbeit und Deutschkenntnisse → plural subject
Therefore the verb must be plural:
- … dass Teamarbeit und Deutschkenntnisse wichtig sind.
Using ist would be ungrammatical here, just like in English you wouldn’t say “Teamwork and German skills is important.”
Deutschkenntnisse is made of:
- Deutsch – German (the language)
- Kenntnisse – (pieces of) knowledge, skills (plural only in normal use)
Key points:
Kenntnisse is almost always used in the plural when talking about skills/knowledge in a practical sense:
- Sprachkenntnisse – language skills
- Computerkenntnisse – computer skills
- Deutschkenntnisse – knowledge of German / German skills
Just saying Deutsch ist wichtig (German is important) would mean the language itself is important in a general sense.
Deutschkenntnisse sind wichtig focuses on having the ability / skills in German.
So Deutschkenntnisse is the idiomatic way to say “German language skills” in job and education contexts.
In German, you often omit the article when talking about things in a general, abstract way, especially:
- uncountable nouns
- plural nouns referring to general categories
Here:
- Teamarbeit (teamwork) is uncountable and used in a general sense.
- Deutschkenntnisse (German skills) is plural and also general.
So:
- Teamarbeit und Deutschkenntnisse sind wichtig.
= Teamwork and German skills are important (in general).
If you said die Teamarbeit und die Deutschkenntnisse, it would sound like you are referring to some specific teamwork and specific German skills already known from context.
No, that would be wrong in standard German.
You have two natural options:
Reported content with dass:
- In der Stellenausschreibung steht, dass Teamarbeit und Deutschkenntnisse wichtig sind.
A direct “quote” of the text:
- In der Stellenausschreibung steht: Teamarbeit und Deutschkenntnisse sind wichtig.
But combining ist with a dass-clause in this position (In der Stellenausschreibung ist, dass …) is not idiomatic German.
Yes, the conjunction changes the meaning:
dass introduces a clause that states what is written:
- In der Stellenausschreibung steht, dass Teamarbeit wichtig ist.
→ It says that teamwork is important.
- In der Stellenausschreibung steht, dass Teamarbeit wichtig ist.
ob introduces an indirect yes/no question:
- In der Stellenausschreibung steht, ob Teamarbeit wichtig ist.
→ It says whether teamwork is important.
(This sounds odd here, because a job ad would normally just state that it is important, not “whether”.)
- In der Stellenausschreibung steht, ob Teamarbeit wichtig ist.
So in this sentence, dass is the correct conjunction to express content, not a question.
Grammatically, you can move parts of the sentence around in the dass-clause, but there are limits for what sounds natural.
Normal, neutral order:
- dass Teamarbeit und Deutschkenntnisse wichtig sind.
Emphasizing wichtig:
- dass es wichtig ist, Teamarbeit zu leisten und Deutschkenntnisse zu haben.
(rephrasing is more natural)
- dass es wichtig ist, Teamarbeit zu leisten und Deutschkenntnisse zu haben.
Your version:
- dass wichtig Teamarbeit und Deutschkenntnisse sind
is technically possible but sounds very marked and unnatural in everyday German. For learners, it’s best to stick to:
- dass [subject] [predicate adjective] [verb]
→ dass Teamarbeit und Deutschkenntnisse wichtig sind.