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From Zwei Tote, hohe Sachschäden: Schwere Unwetter in Teilen Deutschlands, tagesschau.de, 20 August 2026. Quoted for study. The words are the publisher's; the analysis is ours.
Meaning
The child therefore remained uninjured. In Waldorf in Rhineland-Palatinate, a woman was hit by a falling tree and fatally injured.
Word for word: The child remained accordingly uninjured. In Waldorf in Rhineland-Palatinate was a woman by a down-crashing tree hit and fatally injured.
A news-style report of a storm or accident: the child escaped unharmed, while a woman elsewhere was struck by a tree and died from her injuries.
Both sentences are statements in the passive voice. The first uses the verb bleiben plus an adjective, which behaves like a copula, so the adjective takes no ending. The second is a werden-passive in the preterite (wurde ... getroffen und verletzt) with two past participles sharing one auxiliary; the agent is introduced with von + dative.
Rules at work(4)
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wurde eine Frau von einem herabstürzenden Baum getroffen und tödlich verletzt
werden-passive in the preterite with von-agent phrase and two coordinated participles.
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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herabstürzenden Baum
Present participle of a separable verb used attributively with adjective ending.
Both participles can stand before a noun and take ordinary adjective endings. The past participle is passive in sense, the present participle active: das gekochte Ei against das kochende Wasser.
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blieb
Narrative past tense typical of written reports.
The simple past is the written narrative past. In speech it survives mainly in sein, haben and the modals, where hatte and war are far commoner than the perfect forms.
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In Waldorf
in takes dative for static location.
An, auf, hinter, in, neben, über, unter, vor and zwischen take the accusative when the phrase answers where to, and the dative when it answers where. The distinction is movement across a boundary against position, not motion against stillness.
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Words(17)
- der
the
determinerA1definite
Appears twice: dative feminine 'der Wirtschaft' and nominative plural 'die Beschlüsse'.
- das Kind
child
nounA1pl. Kindergen. Kindesstrong declension
- bleiben
stay, remain
verbA2bleiben, blieb, ist gebliebenmit seinstrong
Takes sein in the perfect, not haben.
- demnach
accordingly, therefore
adverbC1causal
Formal written connector referring back to something previously said.
- unverletzt
uninjured, unharmed
adjectiveB1
- in
in, into
prepositionA1governs accusative or dative
Dative for location, accusative for direction.
- das Waldorf
Waldorf (place in Rhineland-Palatinate)
nounC2gen. Waldorfsinvariable declension
- das Rheinland-Pfalz
Rhineland-Palatinate (German state)
nounB1gen. Rheinland-Pfalzinvariable declension
- werden
become, will (future auxiliary)
verbA2werden, wurde, ist gewordenmit habenirregular
Also the passive auxiliary; do not confuse with bekommen (= receive).
- ein
a, an, one
determinerA1indefinite
The form einer here is dative feminine singular, not the pronoun meaning 'one'.
- die Frau
woman, Mrs
nounA1pl. Frauengen. Frauweak declension
- von
from, of, by
prepositionA1governs dative
Used here to mark authorship, like 'by' in English credits.
- der Baum
tree
nounA1pl. Bäumegen. Baumesstrong declension
- treffen
to hit, to meet
verbA2treffen, traf, getroffenmit habenstrong
Here 'to hit/strike' a place or people, not 'to meet'.
- und
and
conjunctionA1coordinating
- tödlich
fatally, deadly
adverbB2modal
- verletzen
to injure, to hurt
verbB1verletzen, verletzte, hat verletztmit habenweak