Infinitive Clauses: um...zu, ohne...zu, statt...zu
Infinitive Clauses: um...zu, ohne...zu, statt...zu
German links a purpose, exception, or substitution to a main clause with um...zu, ohne...zu, and statt...zu, each pairing a two-part conjunction with a zu-infinitive at the very end — a structure with no single English equivalent.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
um...zu: in order to
Ich lerne Deutsch, um in Deutschland zu arbeiten.
I'm learning German (in order) to work in Germany.
um...zu expresses purpose — why someone does something — and translates English's 'in order to' or plain 'to' before a verb of purpose. The construction requires the same subject in both clauses; if the subjects differ, German switches to a damit-clause instead. Word order: um starts the clause, and zu + infinitive close it, with everything else sandwiched in between (um in Deutschland zu arbeiten).
ohne...zu: without doing
Er verließ das Haus, ohne die Tür abzuschließen.
He left the house without locking the door.
ohne...zu matches English 'without doing something' closely, but note the grammar mismatch: English uses a gerund ('locking'), while German uses zu + infinitive (zu schließen). With separable verbs, zu is inserted between the prefix and the stem, all written as one word: abschließen → abzuschließen.
statt...zu: instead of doing
Statt zu arbeiten, hat er ferngesehen.
Instead of working, he watched TV.
statt...zu (also written anstatt...zu) marks something that didn't happen in favor of something that did, paralleling English 'instead of doing'. As with ohne...zu, German again needs zu + infinitive where English defaults to a gerund — a small but persistent mismatch to watch for across all three of these constructions.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| German | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| um...zu | oom ... tsoo | in order to |
| ohne...zu | OH-neh ... tsoo | without ...ing |
| statt...zu | shtaht ... tsoo | instead of ...ing |
| um Deutsch zu lernen | oom doytsh tsoo LAIR-nen | in order to learn German |
| ohne etwas zu sagen | OH-neh ET-vahs tsoo ZAH-gen | without saying anything |
| statt zu Hause zu bleiben | shtaht tsoo HOW-zeh tsoo BLY-ben | instead of staying home |
| um pünktlich zu sein | oom PUENKT-likh tsoo zine | in order to be on time |
| ohne es zu wissen | OH-neh es tsoo VIS-en | without knowing it |