Question on German adverb strings

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edmont
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Question on German adverb strings

Beitrag von edmont »

Here's the problem sentence:
Das Wirtschaftsleben schließlich werde sich unabhängig vom Staat opportunistisch gesund entwickeln -- entsprechend den geographischen Gegebenheiten und ökonomischen Interessen.

My question is with "opportunistisch gesund entwickeln" -- Is there a grammar rule that tells me that opportunistisch modifies entwickeln, not gesund?

Just looking at the word meanings, I assume opportunistisch modifies entwickeln, but in terms of grammar alone, how does one know whether opportunistisch modifies gesund or entwickeln?  In general, if you have a string of adverbs followed by a verb, how do you know if an adverb modifies the next adverb, or modifies the verb at the end of the string?

Thank you for any assistance.




tiorthan
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Re: Question on German adverb strings

Beitrag von tiorthan »

edmont hat geschrieben: My question is with "opportunistisch gesund entwickeln" -- Is there a grammar rule that tells me that opportunistisch modifies entwickeln, not gesund?
I don't think it does. I would expect there to be a comma otherwise.

But, to be honest, I'm not the best candidate to ask about comma rules in German.
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edmont
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Re: Question on German adverb strings

Beitrag von edmont »

tiorthan,
So you would say that opportunistisch modifies gesund, not entwickeln -- okay, and the lack of a comma might be why ...
Thank you, that takes me a step closer to understanding this. I looked around the internet some for rules about strings of adverbs and how to know whether an adverb in a string modifies the next adverb, or instead modifies the verb at the end of the string, but so far have not found anything on this specific question ...

tiorthan
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Re: Question on German adverb strings

Beitrag von tiorthan »

Generally adverbs modify the word that follows unless they are part of an enumeration of modifiers for a word following later. You'd mark that through intonation in spoken German and as far as I know with commas in writing.
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edmont
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Re: Question on German adverb strings

Beitrag von edmont »

Tiorthan, thank you very much for the explanation.

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