How to say something like “I trained every day to be a better runner”

Question

How would you say something with this construction? “I did X (in order) to Y”. My thought for the sentence in the title was

Jeden Tag trainierte ich ein besserer Läufer zu werden.

Does this resemble how you would say this, or is it way off? Also, is the word order correct?

I would say "Jeden Tag trainierte ich, um ein besserer Läufer zu werden." or "Ich trainierte jeden Tag, um ein besserer Läufer zu werden.". ( "um ... zu" = "(in order) to") — Lukas Rotter, Nov 16, 2015 at 17:46
@ArmenTsirunyan You are correct, I edited the question accordingly as that was not its main focus. — Jan, Nov 17, 2015 at 16:06

Jan · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-17 16:05:50Z

1

Jeden Tag trainierte ich, um ein besserer Läufer zu sein.

Ich trainierte jeden Tag, um ein besserer Läufer zu sein.

Um … zu means (in order) to.

If you want to say to become a better runner you have to use the futur composed with werden (become), otherwise it is the Präsens sein (to be).

Jan

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answered Nov 16, 2015 at 18:04

inetphantom

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The focus is on the first words: Jeden Tag... has the focus on daily, the second one is just standard.
– inetphantom
Nov 16, 2015 at 18:06
Werden sounds better.
– Martin Peters
Nov 26, 2015 at 23:26
@MartinPeters But it has an other meaning. to be a better runer and to get a better runner is not the same
– inetphantom
Nov 27, 2015 at 11:13

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