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Second sentence of Nord-Stream-Pipelines: Ein Anschlag mit politischer Sprengkraft?, tagesschau.de, 20 August 2026. Quoted for study. The words are the publisher's; the analysis is ours.
Meaning
The case also has a political dimension - as current election campaigns show.
Word for word: The case has also a political dimension - as itself in current election campaigns shows.
The speaker claims that the case is not merely factual but political, and points to ongoing election campaigns as evidence of this.
A main clause with the verb 'hat' in second position is followed by a parenthetical comparative 'wie' clause; because the wie-clause is inserted after the dash as an afterthought, the finite verb 'zeigt' still stands at its end, and the reflexive pronoun 'sich' precedes it.
Rules at work(11)
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Der Fall hat auch eine politische Dimension
'hat' occupies the second position of the main clause after the subject phrase, the basic German statement word order.
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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in aktuellen Wahlkämpfen
Locative 'in' with no movement takes the dative, seen in the plural dative ending -n on 'Wahlkämpfen'.
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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in aktuellen Wahlkämpfen
'in' governs dative for location and accusative for direction; here it is static location, hence dative.
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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wie sich ... zeigt
'zeigen' is used reflexively here ('sich zeigen') to mean 'become apparent'.
A reflexive verb takes a pronoun pointing back at the subject. The pronoun is usually accusative, but it turns dative as soon as the verb has another direct object, which is why it is ich wasche mich but ich wasche mir die Hände.
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wie sich in aktuellen Wahlkämpfen zeigt
The finite verb 'zeigt' moves to the end of the clause introduced by 'wie'.
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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hat ... zeigt
Both finite verbs are present tense; German uses the present where English might prefer 'is showing'.
The present describes what is happening now, what happens habitually, and very often what is going to happen, since German uses the present with a time expression where English would use a future.
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Der Fall hat
Third-person singular subject 'der Fall' takes the singular form 'hat'.
The finite verb takes an ending that matches its subject in person and number. The endings for regular verbs in the present are e, st, t, en, t, en.
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eine politische Dimension
The direct object of 'haben' stands in the accusative, marked by feminine 'eine politische'.
The accusative marks the direct object: the thing the action is done to. Only the masculine changes visibly, from der to den and from ein to einen, which is why the masculine is where accusative errors show.
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eine politische Dimension
After the indefinite article 'eine' the adjective takes the mixed ending -e.
After ein, kein and a possessive, the adjective takes strong endings exactly where the article shows nothing, which is the masculine nominative and the neuter nominative and accusative, and weak endings everywhere else.
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aktuellen Wahlkämpfen
With no article present but preceded by 'in' + dative context, the adjective takes the strong dative plural ending -en.
After a definite article the adjective ending is e in the five nominative and accusative singular slots and en everywhere else, because the article has already shown the case and gender.
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Wahlkämpfen
The noun is a compound of Wahl and Kampf, written as one word with stress on the first element.
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(13)
- der
the
determinerA1definite
Appears twice: dative feminine 'der Wirtschaft' and nominative plural 'die Beschlüsse'.
- der Fall
case, instance, fall
nounB1pl. Fällegen. Fallesstrong declension
im Fall + genitive means 'in the event of'.
- haben
to have
verbA1haben, hatte, hat gehabtmit habenirregular
As an auxiliary it forms the perfect tenses of most verbs.
- auch
also, too
adverbA1modal
Focus particle; here it means the ministers are included among others already named.
- ein
a, an, one
determinerA1indefinite
The form einer here is dative feminine singular, not the pronoun meaning 'one'.
- politisch
political
adjectiveA2politischer, am politischsten
Usually refers to public or state affairs, not personal matters.
- die Dimension
dimension, aspect
nounB2pl. Dimensionengen. Dimensionmixed declension
In figurative use it means an aspect or side of something, not just a mathematical dimension.
- wie
like, as, how
conjunctionA1subordinating
Here introducing an example, equivalent to 'such as'.
- sich
himself/herself/themselves, itself
pronounA2reflexive
Always refers back to the subject; here it is fixed to the verb 'sich mehren'.
- in
in, into
prepositionA1governs accusative or dative
Dative for location, accusative for direction.
- aktuell
current, topical
adjectiveB1aktueller, am aktuellsten
Means 'current/up-to-date', not 'actually'; that false friend is 'tatsächlich'.
- der Wahlkampf
election campaign
nounB2pl. Wahlkämpfegen. Wahlkampfesstrong declension
- zeigen
to show, to point
verbA2zeigen, zeigte, hat gezeigtmit habenweak
In 'sich zeigen + adjective' it means 'to appear/prove to be', not literally 'to show something'.