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Third sentence of Deutsch-belgische Grenzregion: Waldbrand-Lage stabil - doch es droht Wind, tagesschau.de, 17 August 2026. Quoted for study. The words are the publisher's; the analysis is ours.
Meaning
The forest fire in the border region between Belgium and North Rhine-Westphalia has not spread any further towards Germany.
Word for word: The forest-fire in-the border-area of Belgium and North Rhine-Westphalia has itself not further direction Germany spread.
Used in news reporting to say that a wildfire on the Belgian–North Rhine-Westphalian border did not grow towards the German side.
A main clause in the perfect tense: the finite auxiliary 'hat' stands in second position and the past participle 'ausgebreitet' at the end, with the reflexive pronoun 'sich' as part of the reflexive verb 'sich ausbreiten'. Negation is by 'nicht', placed before the directional phrase 'Richtung Deutschland'.
Rules at work(8)
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Der Waldbrand ... hat
The finite auxiliary 'hat' occupies the second position of the main clause after the 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 sich ... ausgebreitet
The perfect of 'sich ausbreiten' is formed with 'haben' plus the past participle.
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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hat sich ... ausgebreitet
'Sich ausbreiten' is reflexive, so the accusative reflexive pronoun 'sich' appears.
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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ausgebreitet
The weak verb 'ausbreiten' forms its participle with ge- inserted after the separable prefix 'aus-' plus -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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ausgebreitet
'Ausbreiten' is separable; its prefix 'aus-' stays attached in the participle with ge- between prefix and stem.
Some verbs carry a prefix that detaches in a main clause and moves to the very end: aufstehen becomes Ich stehe um sieben auf. The prefix is stressed, which is what tells a separable prefix from an inseparable one. In a subordinate clause and in the infinitive the verb stays whole.
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nicht weiter Richtung Deutschland
Sentence negation with 'nicht' placed before the directional phrase it negates.
Nicht negates a verb, an adjective or a whole clause. It stands at the end of the middle field, before a separable prefix, a participle, an infinitive or a predicate adjective, but after most objects and time expressions.
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Der Waldbrand
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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im Grenzgebiet
'In' expresses location here, so it governs the dative, contracted to 'im'.
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(15)
- der
the
determinerA1definite
Appears twice: dative feminine 'der Wirtschaft' and nominative plural 'die Beschlüsse'.
- der Waldbrand
forest fire, wildfire
nounB1pl. Waldbrändegen. Waldbrandesstrong declension
- in
in, into
prepositionA1governs accusative or dative
Dative for location, accusative for direction.
- das Grenzgebiet
border area, border region
nounB1pl. Grenzgebietegen. Grenzgebietesstrong declension
- von
from, of, by
prepositionA1governs dative
Used here to mark authorship, like 'by' in English credits.
- das Belgien
Belgium
nounA1pl. Belgiengen. Belgiensinvariable declension
- und
and
conjunctionA1coordinating
- das Nordrhein-Westfalen
North Rhine-Westphalia (German federal state)
nounB1pl. —gen. Nordrhein-Westfalensinvariable declension
- haben
to have
verbA1haben, hatte, hat gehabtmit habenirregular
As an auxiliary it forms the perfect tenses of most verbs.
- sich
himself/herself/themselves, itself
pronounA2reflexive
Always refers back to the subject; here it is fixed to the verb 'sich mehren'.
- nicht
not
adverbA1negation
Negates single words or phrases directly before them; sentence negation places it later.
- weiter
further, farther, on, continuing
adverbA2temporal
Here adverbial 'keep on doing something'; the adjective meaning 'additional' would be weitere.
- die Richtung
direction, towards
nounB1pl. Richtungengen. Richtungweak declension
Often used without an article before place names to mean 'towards'.
- das Deutschland
Germany
nounA1pl. —gen. Deutschlandsinvariable declension
- ausbreiten
to spread, to spread out
verbB1breitet aus, breitete aus, hat ausgebreitetmit habenseparableweak
Usually reflexive ('sich ausbreiten') when something spreads such as fire or news.