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Opening sentence of Schätzungen zu Todesfällen: Robert Koch-Institut meldet 14.000 Hitzetote, tagesschau.de, 20 August 2026. Quoted for study. The words are the publisher's; the analysis is ours.
Meaning
The hot summer caused thousands of deaths.
Word for word: The hot summer has for thousands of deaths provided.
States that an unusually hot summer led to thousands of people dying; typical of news reporting on heat waves.
A simple main clause in the perfect tense: the auxiliary 'hat' occupies the second position and the past participle 'gesorgt' closes the clause. 'sorgen für' is a fixed verb-preposition combination governing the accusative, so 'Tausende Sterbefälle' stands in the accusative as a prepositional object.
Rules at work(8)
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Der heiße Sommer hat
In a main clause the finite verb must be the second element; here it follows the three-word subject phrase.
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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hat ... gesorgt
The perfect tense is formed with the present tense of 'haben' plus the past participle at the end of the clause.
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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für Tausende Sterbefälle
'sorgen für' is a fixed combination whose preposition 'für' governs the accusative.
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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hat ... gesorgt
'sorgen' forms its perfect with 'haben', as most transitive and non-motion verbs do.
The perfect is the ordinary spoken past. It is built from the present of haben in second position and the past participle at the end of the clause. Most verbs take haben, including every verb with a direct object and every reflexive verb.
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gesorgt
The weak verb 'sorgen' forms its participle with ge- prefix and -t ending: ge-sorg-t.
A weak verb forms its participle as ge plus stem plus t, a strong verb as ge plus a often changed stem plus en. Verbs with an inseparable prefix and verbs ending in ieren take no ge at all.
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für Tausende Sterbefälle
The noun phrase after 'für' takes the accusative as the object of the preposition.
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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Der heiße Sommer
The subject of the sentence stands in the nominative.
The nominative marks the subject of the clause: whoever or whatever is doing the verb. It is also the case used after the verbs sein, werden and bleiben, so both sides of Das ist mein Bruder stand in the nominative.
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Der heiße Sommer hat
Third-person singular subject requires the finite 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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Words(8)
- der
the
determinerA1definite
Appears twice: dative feminine 'der Wirtschaft' and nominative plural 'die Beschlüsse'.
- heiß
hot, heated
adjectiveA1heißer, am heißesten
- der Sommer
summer
nounA1pl. Sommergen. des Sommersstrong declension
- haben
to have
verbA1haben, hatte, hat gehabtmit habenirregular
As an auxiliary it forms the perfect tenses of most verbs.
- für
for
prepositionA1governs accusative
Here für Dienstag names the day the forecast applies to, not a beneficiary.
- Tausende
thousands
nounA2
Substantivised numeral used only in the plural; followed by another plural noun or a von-phrase.
- das Sterbefall
death (as a recorded case)
nounC1pl. Sterbefällegen. Sterbefallesstrong declension
- sorgen
to provide for, to cause, to worry
verbB1sorgen, sorgte, hat gesorgtmit habenweaksorgen für + accusative
'sorgen für etwas' means 'to cause something', often something notable or negative; do not confuse with 'sich sorgen um' (to worry about).