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From Eröffnung in Cochstedt: Forschungszentrum soll Drohnenabwehr verbessern, tagesschau.de, 18 August 2026. Quoted for study. The words are the publisher's; the analysis is ours.
Meaning
On the site of the former airport at Cochstedt, which the DLR took over in 2019, research is already being carried out on civilian drone applications such as those for agriculture or firefighting: the technology centre is working not only at Cochstedt but also at the DLR site in Braunschweig.
Word for word: On the grounds of-the former airport in Cochstedt, which the DLR 2019 taken-over had, is already on civilian drone-applications like for-example for the agriculture or to-the firefighting researched: The technology-centre works beside Cochstedt also at-the DLR-site Braunschweig.
Research into civilian uses of drones is already under way on the former Cochstedt airfield, acquired by the German Aerospace Center in 2019; the technology centre operates both there and at Braunschweig.
The first clause is a passive construction (wird ... geforscht) with a fronted prepositional phrase triggering verb-second word order. It contains a relative clause (den das DLR 2019 übernommen hatte) in pluperfect with the relative pronoun den referring back to der Flughafen (masculine accusative). The colon introduces a second main clause in present tense with verb-second order.
Rules at work(9)
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wird bereits an
The fronted adverbial Auf dem Gelände... occupies position one, so the finite verb wird comes second.
In a German main clause the finite verb is always the second element. The first element can be the subject, but it can just as easily be a time expression, an object or a whole subordinate clause; whatever it is, it counts as one element and the verb follows it. This is why putting something other than the subject first pushes the subject after the verb.
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wird ... geforscht
Forschen has no agent named; the present passive with werden expresses that research is being done.
Werden plus a past participle. The agent, when it is mentioned at all, follows von for a person and durch for a means. In the perfect passive the participle of werden appears as worden rather than geworden.
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den das DLR 2019 übernommen hatte
A relative clause modifies Flughafens; the pronoun den agrees with it in gender and number and takes accusative case.
A relative pronoun takes its gender and number from the noun it refers back to, and its case from the job it does inside the relative clause. The clause is verb-final and always separated by a comma.
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den das DLR 2019 übernommen hatte
In the relative clause the finite auxiliary hatte stands at the end.
In a subordinate clause the finite verb stands last. Where the clause also holds a participle or an infinitive, the finite verb goes after them, so the order at the end is participle then auxiliary.
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übernommen hatte
The takeover happened before the research began, so the past-of-the-past is used.
The pluperfect describes what had already happened before some other past event. It is built like the perfect but with hatte or war instead of hat or ist, and it very often appears in a clause introduced by nachdem.
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des ehemaligen Flughafens
The genitive marks which Gelände is meant: the site of the airport.
The genitive shows possession and follows a small set of prepositions. Masculine and neuter nouns add s or es. In speech it is often replaced by von plus the dative, but it is alive in writing and in fixed expressions.
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dem Gelände
Auf expresses static location here, so its object is dative.
The dative marks the indirect object, usually the person something is given, said or shown to. A number of common verbs take a dative object where English would use a direct one, and several prepositions always take it.
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an zivilen Drohnenanwendungen ... geforscht
Forschen governs the fixed preposition an + dative.
Many verbs are tied to one preposition and one case, and the pairing rarely matches the English one. Warten auf takes the accusative, denken an takes the accusative, teilnehmen an takes the dative.
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Drohnenanwendungen, Brandbekämpfung, Technologiezentrum, DLR-Standort
German routinely forms compounds; the head noun determines gender and plural.
German builds long nouns by joining shorter ones. The last part carries the gender and the plural, and everything before it modifies what follows, so a compound is read from the right.
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Words(29)
- auf
on, onto
prepositionA1governs accusative or dative
Location takes the dative, movement towards the accusative.
- der
the
determinerA1definite
Appears twice: dative feminine 'der Wirtschaft' and nominative plural 'die Beschlüsse'.
- das Gelände
site, grounds, terrain
nounB1pl. Geländegen. Geländesstrong declension
- ehemalig
former, previous
adjectiveB1
- der Flughafen
airport
nounA2pl. Flughäfengen. Flughafensmixed declension
- in
in, into
prepositionA1governs accusative or dative
Dative for location, accusative for direction.
- das Cochstedt
Cochstedt (town in Saxony-Anhalt)
nounC2gen. Cochstedtsstrong declension
- der
who, which
pronounA1relative
- das DLR
German Aerospace Centre (abbreviation)
nounC1invariable declension
- übernehmen
to take on, to assume, to take over
verbB2übernehmen, übernahm, hat übernommenmit habenmixed
Inseparable prefix 'über-': never split off, and the participle has no ge-.
- haben
to have
verbA1haben, hatte, hat gehabtmit habenirregular
As an auxiliary it forms the perfect tenses of most verbs.
- werden
become, will (future auxiliary)
verbA2werden, wurde, ist gewordenmit habenirregular
Also the passive auxiliary; do not confuse with bekommen (= receive).
- bereits
already
adverbB1temporal
More formal than schon.
- an
on, at, by
prepositionA1governs accusative or dative
Dative for points in time and location (am Montag), accusative for direction.
- zivil
civilian, civil
adjectiveB2
- die Drohnenanwendung
drone application
nounC1pl. Drohnenanwendungengen. Drohnenanwendungmixed declension
- wie
like, as, how
conjunctionA1subordinating
Here introducing an example, equivalent to 'such as'.
- beispielsweise
for example, for instance
adverbB1modal
- für
for
prepositionA1governs accusative
Here für Dienstag names the day the forecast applies to, not a beneficiary.
- die Landwirtschaft
agriculture, farming
nounB1pl. Landwirtschaftengen. Landwirtschaftweak declension
- oder
or
conjunctionA1coordinating
- zu
to, at, too
prepositionA1governs dative
With verbs of movement it takes dative even though motion is involved.
- die Brandbekämpfung
firefighting
nounC1pl. Brandbekämpfungengen. Brandbekämpfungmixed declension
- forschen
research, do research
verbB2forschen, forschte, geforschtmit habenweakan + dative
- das Technologiezentrum
technology centre
nounB2pl. Technologiezentrengen. Technologiezentrumsstrong declension
- arbeiten
to work
verbA1arbeiten, arbeitete, hat gearbeitetmit habenweak
- neben
next to, beside, alongside
prepositionA2governs accusative or dative
Here figurative: 'apart from/in addition to'.
- auch
also, too
adverbA1modal
Focus particle; here it means the ministers are included among others already named.
- das Braunschweig
Braunschweig (city in Lower Saxony)
nounC2gen. Braunschweigsstrong declension