Setting sustainable work boundaries | Learn German in English

Sentence explanations

1. Ich war produktiv, aber das Tempo wird zunehmend nicht mehr tragbar.

   I have been productive, but the pace is becoming unsustainable.

   Ich war

   I was / I have been

   produktiv

   productive

   aber

   but

   das Tempo

   the pace

   wird

   becomes / is becoming

   zunehmend

   increasingly

   nicht mehr

   no longer

   tragbar

   sustainable

   More detail

   Ich war uses war, the simple-past form of sein for first-person singular: ich bin → ich war. In this sentence, the fixed translation naturally renders it as “I have been,” describing a past-to-present situation; the German form itself is still Präteritum, not a present-perfect construction. produktiv is an adjective meaning productive here. It has the same form after war because it is a predicative adjective, not an adjective modifying a noun. Example: Ich bin heute produktiv. — “I am productive today.” aber introduces a contrast: “but.” It connects the speaker’s productivity with the separate problem stated afterward. das Tempo means “the pace.” Tempo is a neuter noun, so its definite article is das in the nominative singular here. Example: Das Tempo ist hoch. — “The pace is fast.” wird is the third-person singular present form of werden: ich werde, du wirst, er/sie/es wird. Here werden means “become,” not future tense: das Tempo wird ... describes a change in the pace. A future construction would use an infinitive, as in Das Tempo wird steigen. — “The pace will increase.” zunehmend means “increasingly” and modifies the developing situation. It comes from zunehmen (“to increase,” “to grow”), but in this sentence it functions as an adverb describing the gradual development. nicht mehr means “no longer” or “not anymore.” It marks that the following property is no longer applicable. Together with tragbar, it means that the pace is becoming not sustainable, rather than merely being unsustainable at one fixed point. tragbar means “sustainable” in this context, literally relating to what can be borne or carried. Its base adjective is tragbar; the related verb tragen means “to carry” or “to bear,” but tragbar should be learned as the adjective used here. Example: Diese Belastung ist nicht tragbar. — “This burden is unsustainable.” The sentence combines das Tempo wird (“the pace is becoming”), zunehmend (“increasingly”), and nicht mehr tragbar (“no longer sustainable”). Thus the complete meaning is: “I have been productive, but the pace is becoming increasingly unsustainable.”

2. Ich schätze es, dass du das ansprichst, bevor die Leistung nachlässt.

   I appreciate you raising it before performance drops.

   Ich schätze es

   I appreciate it

   dass

   that

   das

   it

   ansprichst

   raise; bring up

   bevor

   before

   Leistung

   performance

   nachlässt

   drops; declines

   More detail

   Ich schätze es means “I appreciate it” here. schätze is the first-person singular present form of schätzen; in this use, schätzen means to appreciate or value, not to estimate. The pronoun es is the appreciated matter, without specifying a more precise referent in the sentence. Example: Ich schätze deine Hilfe. — “I appreciate your help.” dass introduces the content of what is appreciated. In the clause beginning with dass, the finite verb goes to the end: dass du das ansprichst. das is an accusative object pronoun here, meaning “it” in the intended translation. Its grammatical form is neuter singular, but the sentence does not identify more specifically what it refers to. It is distinct from the article in a noun phrase, as in das Problem (“the problem”). ansprichst is the second-person singular present form of ansprechen, “to raise” or “to bring up” a topic. ansprechen is a separable verb in main-clause word order: Du sprichst das an. — “You bring it up.” After dass, the finite form appears at the end as dass du das ansprichst. bevor introduces a time clause meaning “before.” It also places the finite verb at the end of its clause: bevor die Leistung nachlässt. Leistung is a feminine singular noun meaning “performance” in this context. Its definite article is die: die Leistung. The noun can refer to the level or amount of effective output, rather than to a person who performs. nachlässt is the third-person singular present form of nachlassen, “to decline” or “to weaken.” The base verb has the stem change lassen → lässt in this form, and the spelling includes ä. In a main clause, the separable verb can appear as Die Leistung lässt nach. — “Performance declines.” In the bevor clause, it remains together at the end: bevor die Leistung nachlässt. Together, Ich schätze es, dass du das ansprichst says “I appreciate you raising it,” and bevor die Leistung nachlässt specifies that this happens before performance declines. The complete utterance is therefore: “I appreciate you raising it before performance drops.”

3. Ich kann weiterhin Ergebnisse liefern, sofern wir die Prioritäten reduzieren.

   I can continue delivering, provided priorities are reduced.

   Ich kann

   I can

   weiterhin

   continue; still

   Ergebnisse

   results

   liefern

   deliver; provide

   sofern

   provided that

   Prioritäten

   priorities

   reduzieren

   reduce

   More detail

   Ich kann expresses present ability or possibility: “I can.” kann is the first- or third-person singular present form of können; here Ich identifies the first-person subject. With a modal verb such as können, the other verb normally appears as an infinitive at the end of the clause: Ich kann ... liefern. weiterhin means that the situation continues. It is an adverb and does not inflect. Compare weiterhin arbeiten (“continue working”) with nicht mehr arbeiten (“no longer work”); the latter says that the activity has stopped. Ergebnisse means “results” here. It is the plural of the noun das Ergebnis; the singular is das Ergebnis, and the plural form is die Ergebnisse. In this sentence it is the object of liefern. liefern means “deliver” or “provide.” It is the infinitive selected by kann, while kann carries the finite present-tense marking. For example, Wir liefern die Ergebnisse morgen. means “We will deliver the results tomorrow.” sofern introduces a condition and can be translated as “provided that.” It introduces a subordinate clause, so the finite verb is placed at the end: sofern wir ... reduzieren. Wenn can also introduce many conditions, but sofern presents the condition more explicitly as a requirement or proviso. Prioritäten is the plural of the feminine noun die Priorität (“priority”). The plural ending is -en: die Priorität → die Prioritäten. Here the noun is the object of reduzieren; its plural form does not itself say how many priorities there are. reduzieren means “reduce.” In this clause, it is the finite present-tense form used with the subject wir: wir reduzieren means “we reduce.” This form happens to be identical in spelling to the infinitive reduzieren; its position at the end of the subordinate clause does not make it an infinitive. Together, Ich kann weiterhin Ergebnisse liefern means “I can continue delivering results.” The conditional clause sofern wir die Prioritäten reduzieren adds the requirement under which this remains possible. The complete utterance is therefore: “I can continue delivering results, provided that priorities are reduced.”

4. Wir müssen zwischen dringender Arbeit und Arbeit unterscheiden, die hauptsächlich aus Gründen der Sichtbarkeit erledigt wird.

   We need to distinguish urgent work from work done mainly for visibility.

   Wir müssen

   we must; we need to

   zwischen

   between

   dringender

   urgent

   Arbeit

   work

   unterscheiden

   distinguish

   hauptsächlich

   mainly

   Gründen

   reasons; grounds

   Sichtbarkeit

   visibility

   erledigt wird

   is done; is completed

   More detail

   Wir müssen uses müssen, whose base form is the same infinitive. müssen is the finite present-tense form for wir (first-person plural): “we must” or, as here, “we need to.” The following verb remains in the infinitive: Wir müssen unterscheiden = “We need to distinguish.” zwischen introduces the two things being distinguished. With unterscheiden zwischen, the following noun groups are in the dative. This is a reusable pattern: zwischen A und B unterscheiden = “distinguish between A and B.” dringender means “urgent” here and describes the first Arbeit. Its base form is the adjective dringend. Because Arbeit is feminine singular and has no article here, the adjective shows the dative feminine ending: dringender Arbeit. The ending belongs to dringender, not to the noun. Arbeit means “work.” It is a feminine noun, and its form does not change here for the dative: nominative Arbeit, dative Arbeit. In the sentence, the second occurrence of Arbeit introduces the other kind of work being compared. unterscheiden means “to distinguish” or “to tell apart.” It is the infinitive after the modal verb müssen. Its useful pattern is etwas von etwas unterscheiden (“distinguish one thing from another”) or, as here, zwischen etwas und etwas unterscheiden (“distinguish between two things”). hauptsächlich means “mainly” or “primarily.” It modifies the reason for which the work is done, so hauptsächlich aus Gründen ... means “mainly for reasons ...” Example: Sie arbeitet hauptsächlich von zu Hause. — “She works mainly from home.” Gründen means “reasons” or “grounds” here. Its base form is the noun Grund; Gründen is its plural dative form after aus. The pattern aus Gründen der ... means “for reasons of ...” or “on grounds of ...”. Sichtbarkeit means “visibility.” It is a feminine noun formed from sichtbar (“visible”) with -keit, a suffix that forms abstract nouns. In der Sichtbarkeit, der marks the genitive feminine singular, expressing what kind of reasons these are: “reasons of visibility.” erledigt wird is a passive construction. erledigt is the past participle of erledigen (“to complete” or “to do”), while wird is the present-tense third-person singular form of werden, the auxiliary used for the passive. Together, Arbeit, die ... erledigt wird means “work that is done/completed ...”. The singular form wird agrees with Arbeit, not with the people doing the work. Putting the parts together: Wir müssen ... unterscheiden gives “We need to distinguish”; zwischen dringender Arbeit und Arbeit names the two kinds of work; and die hauptsächlich aus Gründen der Sichtbarkeit erledigt wird describes the second kind as work that is done mainly for visibility-related reasons. The complete meaning is: “We need to distinguish urgent work from work done mainly for visibility.”

5. Manche sichtbaren Aufgaben kosten Energie, ohne etwas an den Ergebnissen zu ändern.

   Some visible tasks consume energy without changing results.

   Manche

   some

   sichtbaren

   visible

   Aufgaben

   tasks

   kosten

   consume; cost

   Energie

   energy

   etwas

   something; anything

   Ergebnissen

   results

   ändern

   change

   More detail

   Manche means “some” here: it introduces an unspecified plural subset. It is a determiner, not a statement of an exact number. Compare manche Aufgaben (“some tasks”) with alle Aufgaben (“all tasks”). sichtbaren describes Aufgaben as visible. Its base form is sichtbar; the ending -en is the adjective ending used here before the plural noun in this determiner phrase: manche sichtbaren Aufgaben. The adjective agrees with the noun phrase’s plural form; it is not derived from Aufgaben. Aufgaben is the plural of Aufgabe (“task”). In this sentence it is the plural object of kosten, so the phrase means “some visible tasks.” A useful singular/plural pair is eine Aufgabe / Aufgaben. kosten is the present-tense form of kosten for a third-person plural subject: manche ... Aufgaben kosten. Here it means “consume” energy, not money. The same verb can also mean “cost” in a price context, as in Das kostet zehn Euro (“That costs ten euros”). Energie is a noun meaning “energy.” It is the direct object of kosten: the tasks consume energy. German nouns are capitalized, so Energie begins with a capital letter. ohne ... zu ändern is a reusable pattern meaning “without changing ...”. After ohne, a dependent action commonly uses zu plus the infinitive: ohne zu warten (“without waiting”). Here the infinitive is ändern, whose base form means “to change.” etwas means “something” in isolation, but inside ohne etwas ... zu ändern, the complete idea is naturally translated as “without changing anything ...”. It is the object of ändern; the negative-like “anything” effect comes from the ohne construction, not from etwas alone. an den Ergebnissen means “about/in the results.” Ergebnissen is the dative plural of Ergebnis, and the preposition an takes the dative in this usage. The phrase etwas an den Ergebnissen ändern is a useful pattern for “change something about the results.” ändern means “to change.” In etwas an den Ergebnissen zu ändern, it is an infinitive with zu, required by the preceding ohne construction. Compare Wir ändern die Ergebnisse (“We change the results”) with ohne die Ergebnisse zu ändern (“without changing the results”). Putting the parts together: Manche sichtbaren Aufgaben is the plural subject, kosten Energie says that they consume energy, and ohne etwas an den Ergebnissen zu ändern adds that this happens without changing anything about the results. The whole utterance therefore means: “Some visible tasks consume energy without changing results.”

6. Dann sollten wir sie bewusst streichen oder delegieren.

   Then we should cut or delegate them deliberately.

   Dann

   then

   sollten wir

   we should

   sie

   them

   bewusst

   deliberately

   streichen

   cut/remove

   delegieren

   delegate

   More detail

   Dann means “then” and links this proposal to what has just been discussed. It can also introduce a consequence or next step: Dann machen wir weiter. — “Then we’ll continue.” Sollten wir expresses “we should.” The form sollten belongs to sollen and combines with the subject wir here. In this use, sollen is a modal verb giving advice or a recommendation; the following lexical verb stays in the infinitive. Compare Wir sollten warten. — “We should wait.” Sie means “them” here: it is the lowercase third-person plural pronoun in the accusative role, referring to the tasks identified in the preceding context. Do not confuse it with formal Sie (“you”), which is capitalized. The pronoun’s plural form does not itself identify any more specific kind of task. Bewusst means “deliberately” here, emphasizing that the decision is intentional. The related adverb unbewusst means “unconsciously” or “without realizing it,” so it gives the opposite contrast in suitable contexts. Streichen is the infinitive “to remove” or “to cut.” With sollten, it remains in the infinitive. In this sentence, the intended action is to remove the tasks from the set of work, rather than necessarily physically cutting something. Example: Wir streichen diesen Punkt. — “We remove this item.” Delegieren is also an infinitive, “to delegate,” and it is coordinated with streichen by oder. It means assigning responsibility for the work to someone else. Example: Wir delegieren diese Aufgabe. — “We delegate this task.” Together, sollten wir introduces a recommendation, sie supplies the plural object, and bewusst describes the manner of the two alternatives. The shared modal applies to both infinitives: Dann sollten wir sie bewusst streichen oder delegieren. means “Then we should deliberately remove or delegate them.”

7. Ich würde auch von klareren Punkten profitieren, an denen wir die Arbeit beenden.

   I would also benefit from clearer stopping points.

   Ich würde

   I would

   auch

   also

   klareren

   clearer

   Punkten

   points

   profitieren

   benefit

   an denen

   at which

   Arbeit

   work

   beenden

   finish

   More detail

   Ich würde expresses “I would”: würde is the Konjunktiv II form of werden, used here with the infinitive profitieren to form a conditional statement. The subject is Ich (“I”). A reusable pattern is Ich würde + infinitive, for example: Ich würde bleiben. — “I would stay.” auch means “also” or “too”. It adds this statement to something else that applies. klareren means “clearer” here. Its base adjective is klar (“clear”), and its comparative form is klarer (“clearer”). In von klareren Punkten, the ending -en reflects the adjective’s form before the dative plural noun Punkten. The superlative is am klarsten (“clearest”) when used predicatively, as in Das ist am klarsten. — “That is the clearest.” Punkten is the plural dative form of Punkt (“point”). After von, German uses the dative, so von Punkten means “from points”. Here, the points are stopping points: points at which the work can be brought to an end. profitieren means “benefit” and is used with von: von etwas profitieren — “benefit from something”. It remains an infinitive because it follows würde. For example, Wir profitieren von klaren Regeln. — “We benefit from clear rules.” an denen means “at which”. It introduces a relative clause referring here to the plural Punkten. denen is the dative plural relative form, required by an in this use. The pattern Punkte, an denen ... can describe points in a process at which something happens. Arbeit means “work”. In the phrase die Arbeit, it is the noun receiving the action of beenden; die marks feminine singular here, but this article form is also used for feminine nominative singular, so the article alone does not uniquely identify the accusative. The phrase refers to the work being completed here, without specifying a particular task. beenden means “finish” or “bring to an end”. It is the infinitive in this sentence because würde carries the conditional form. etwas beenden is a reusable pattern meaning “finish something”, for example: Sie beendet die Aufgabe. — “She finishes the task.” Together, Ich würde auch von klareren Punkten profitieren means “I would also benefit from clearer points.” The relative clause an denen wir die Arbeit beenden specifies what makes these points useful: they are points at which wir (“we”) finish the work. Thus the complete utterance means: “I would also benefit from clearer stopping points.”

8. Ich kann für jede aktive Aufgabe Kriterien für den Abschluss festlegen.

   I can define completion criteria for each active task.

   Ich kann

   I can

   aktive

   active

   Aufgabe

   task

   Kriterien

   criteria

   Abschluss

   completion

   festlegen

   define

   More detail

   Ich kann expresses the speaker’s ability or possibility: “I can.” kann is the first-person singular present form of können; the infinitive is können, not kann. With a modal verb, German normally places the other verb in the infinitive at the end: Ich kann helfen. — “I can help.” aktive means “active” here. It is the adjective aktiv with an ending because it describes Aufgabe. In für jede aktive Aufgabe, für takes the accusative, Aufgabe is feminine singular, and the adjective has the form aktive. Example: eine aktive Gruppe — “an active group.” Aufgabe means “task” here. Its plural is Aufgaben: eine Aufgabe — “one task”; mehrere Aufgaben — “several tasks.” The phrase jede aktive Aufgabe means “each active task”; jede is the feminine singular accusative form required after für in this phrase. Kriterien means “criteria.” It is the plural of Kriterium; the singular is Kriterium, and the plural is Kriterien. Here Kriterien is the object being defined. Example: Wir brauchen klare Kriterien. — “We need clear criteria.” Abschluss means “completion” in für den Abschluss. It is a masculine noun, and für requires the accusative, so the definite article is den: für den Abschluss — “for completion.” The noun can also refer to a completion or final qualification in other contexts, but the fixed sentence supports the sense “completion.” festlegen means “to define” or “to set.” It is a separable verb: in a finite clause without a modal, Ich lege Kriterien fest. means “I define criteria.” After kann, however, the infinitive remains together and goes to the end: Ich kann Kriterien festlegen. — “I can define criteria.” Together, für jede aktive Aufgabe identifies the scope: the criteria apply to each active task. Kriterien für den Abschluss means “completion criteria,” literally criteria for completion. The modal kann expresses the speaker’s ability or possibility, and festlegen supplies the action. Thus the whole utterance means: “I can define completion criteria for each active task.”