Lesson 13.2: position of definite article?

One of the lines in the conversation is:

“…dass ich die für Ihre Stelle ​erforderlichen Kenntnisse und Qualifikationen habe.” which is translated as:

“…that I have the necessary skills and qualifications for this position.”

Does the word “die” in this context mean “the”, and does it refer to “Kenntnisse und Qualifikationen” ?

If so, is it common to separate the article from the noun by a modifying phrase ("für Ihre Stelle")?

If not, what is its function?

Hallo Peter--252,

thank you for your question!

You are right, “die” refers to “Kenntnisse und Qualifikationen". However, this doesn't necessarily mean that you have to seperate the article and its noun. Both versions 

"…dass ich die für Ihre Stelle ​erforderlichen Kenntnisse und Qualifikationen habe.” and 

"…dass ich die ​erforderlichen Kenntnisse und Qualifikationen für Ihre Stelle habe.” are correct. 

German can be quite flexible with word order so it depends which word you want to place special emphasis on ("Stelle" or “Kenntnisse und Qualifikationen”). 

I hope this helps.

Viele Grüße, 

Julia

Hallo Julia,

Thanks for that explanation.

I feel I have managed to internalise a lot of the word ordering, so many German sentences and phrases now seem natural, but every so often a new one comes up!

Viele Grüße,

Peter