GermanSentence

B2 Noun phrase

Extended Participle Phrases

Erweiterte Partizipialattribute

Formal written German can expand a participle before a noun into a long phrase standing between the article and the noun, where English would use a relative clause after it.

Sentences that use it(6 of 6)

Real sentences from the lexicon. The marked words are what show the rule.

  • central to this sentence B2

    Dort sind allerdings nur private E-Roller erlaubt, die in Deutschland weit verbreiteten Leih-Scooter sind seit 2023 verboten. Auch in Deutschland sind Unfälle mit E-Rollern ein wachsendes Problem: Die Polizei registrierte bundesweit im vergangenen Jahr laut Statistischem Bundesamt fast 16.500 E-Roller-Unfälle - im Vergleich zum Vorjahr ein Plus von rund 38 Prozent. Doch eine Helmpflicht gibt es hierzulande nicht.

    However, only privately owned e-scooters are allowed there; the rental scooters that are widespread in Germany have been banned since 2023. In Germany too, accidents involving e-scooters are a growing problem: according to the Federal Statistical Office, the police registered almost 16,500 e-scooter accidents nationwide last year — an increase of around 38 percent compared with the previous year. Yet there is no helmet requirement in this country.

    An entire participial phrase with its own prepositional modifier stands between the article and the noun, a structure typical of written German.

    tagesschau.de
  • central to this sentence C1

    Erst vor zweieinhalb Jahren gegründet, folgte einem Höhenflug in ostdeutschen Landtagen das Scheitern an der Fünf-Prozent-Hürde bei der vergangenen Bundestagswahl.

    Founded only two and a half years earlier, it followed its meteoric rise in the eastern German state parliaments with failure at the five-percent threshold in the last federal election.

    A fronted past participle with modifiers acts as a reduced clause referring to the subject.

    tagesschau.de
  • central to this sentence C1

    Zu sehen ist ein in Ketten gelegtes Ventil.

    What can be seen is a valve that has been placed in chains.

    The prepositional phrase 'in Ketten' expands the participle 'gelegt', all placed before the noun as an attributive phrase.

    tagesschau.de
  • C1

    Im gesamten Jahr 2025 hätten die Bundesbehörden etwa 16.600 Menschen bei der geförderten Rückkehr in ihr Herkunftsland oder einen aufnahmebereiten Drittstaat unterstützt.

    Over the whole of 2025, the federal authorities are said to have supported around 16,600 people in their state-funded return to their country of origin or to a third country willing to take them in.

    The past participle gefördert modifies Rückkehr attributively with a weak adjective ending.

    tagesschau.de
  • C1

    In knapp 3.100 Fällen wurden entstandene gesundheitliche Schäden bestätigt - also in etwa jedem vierten Fall.

    In almost 3,100 cases, health damage that had occurred was confirmed - that is, in about one in four cases.

    The participle stands directly before the noun with an intervening adjective, forming a compact modifier phrase typical of formal German.

    tagesschau.de
  • B2

    In einer Gemeinde im Thüringer Wald wurde ein Vater von herabstürzenden Baumteilen getroffen und starb an den Verletzungen.

    In a municipality in the Thuringian Forest, a father was struck by falling pieces of tree and died of his injuries.

    The present participle 'herabstürzenden' modifies the noun attributively with a strong adjective ending.

    tagesschau.de

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