Goal setting is important, and being able to achieve your goals and express how you did it is even more so.
The two conjunctions (words that join two clauses together) indem and dadurch, dass explain the way in which a goal was (or was not) achieved.
They answer the questions ‘how do you achieve your goals?’ ‘Through which manner did you achieve your goals?’ ‘In which way did you achieve your goals?’
In this article, we will learn how to use both of these phrases fluently to help you better express your goal setting.
Indem
(pronunciation: in-dame)
‘Indem’ can usually be translated as ‘by’ - as in ‘by doing something.’
Ich lerne viel Deutsch, indem ich viele Blogs lese.
I learn a lot of German by reading a lot of blogs.
Ich verschwende viel Geld, indem ich viel zu viel shoppe!
I waste a lot of money by shopping far too much!
Man öffnet die Tür, indem man den Knopf drückt.
You open the door by pressing the button.
Notice that the English phrases use ‘by doing.’ We don’t use the German present participle (the -ing form of the verb) in this same way - the German says “I read” rather than “I am reading”. So we are using a tense to match the verb in the first half of the sentence.
If we look at our first example literally, we have:
DE Original: Ich lerne viel Deutsch, indem ich viele Blogs lese.
DE Directly translated: I learn a lot of German [indem] I read a lot of blogs.
EN Original: I learn a lot of German by reading a lot of blogs.
Dadurch, dass
(pronunciation: da-doorch dass)
‘Dadurch, dass’ can also be translated as ‘by’ - as in ‘by doing something.’
Ich lerne viel Deutsch, dadurch dass ich viele Blogs lese.
I learn a lot of German by reading a lot of blogs.
Ich verschwende viel Geld, dadurch dass ich viel zu viel shoppe!
I waste a lot of money by shopping far too much!
Man öffnet die Tür, dadurch dass man den Knopf drückt.
You open the door by pressing the button.
Basic Word Order
Both ‘indem’ and ‘dadurch, dass’ signal subordinate clauses (clauses that are less important than the clause they are attached to). In a German sentence, the verb or verbs of a subordinate clause goes to the end.
This means that if we were doing a literal translation into English, we would have:
Ich lerne viel Deutsch, dadurch dass ich viele Blogs lese.
I learn a lot of German by a lot of blogs reading.
Ich verschwende viel Geld, dadurch dass ich viel zu viel shoppe!
I waste a lot of money by far too much shopping!
Man öffnet die Tür, dadurch dass man den Knopf drückt.
You open the door by the button pressing.
More advanced word order with - indem
If you are writing about your goals, you can change the word order slightly to make it more interesting, in the same way we can in English.
Indem ich viele Blogs lese, lerne ich viel Deutsch.
By reading a lot of blogs, I am learning German.
Indem ich viel zu viel shoppe, verschwende ich viel Geld.
By shopping far too much, I waste a lot of money.
Indem man den Knopf drückt, öffnet man die Tür.
You open the door by pressing the button.
Notice that in these sentences, we have two verbs next to each other. In the first sentence, we have “lese, lerne”, in the second we have “shoppe, verschwende” and in the third we have “drückt, öffnet.”
So in the subordinate clause (the part of the sentence starting with ‘indem’) the verb still comes at the end. Then, in the main clause, the verb comes at the beginning.
So literally, we have:
Indem ich viele Blogs lese, lerne ich viel Deutsch.
By a lot of blogs reading, am learning I German.
Indem ich viel zu viel shoppe, verschwende ich viel Geld.
By far too much shopping, waste I a lot of money.
Indem man den Knopf drückt, öffnet man die Tür.
By the button pressing, open you the door.
More advanced word order - dadurch, dass
While we have learned ‘dadurch, dass’ as a phrase, the two words can be separated. This is mostly a style choice which can make your German sound less repetitive.
When you separate ‘dadurch’ and ‘dass’ the main clause must come first.
In this structure, ‘dadurch’ comes after the verb of your main clause, and ‘dass’ comes at the beginning of your subordinate clause.
Ich lerne dadurch viel Deutsch, dass ich viele Blogs lese.
I learn a lot of German by a lot of blogs reading.
To break it down:
Ich verschwende dadurch viel Geld, dass ich viel zu viel shoppe!
I waste a lot of money by far too much shopping!
Now you have multiple ways to talk about setting goals and (more generally) how to achieve results. Have a go at achieving one of your goals today, purely so you can practise explaining how you did it!
Darren has been a language teacher for sixteen years, and has taught all ages from pre-school to adults. He has been a German speaker since he was 12 years old.
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