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Third sentence of Zahlen zum ersten Halbjahr: Mehr freiwillige Ausreisen abgelehnter Asylbewerber, tagesschau.de, 17 August 2026. Quoted for study. The words are the publisher's; the analysis is ours.
Meaning
According to a media report, the number of voluntary departures by migrants and rejected asylum seekers has risen.
Word for word: The number the voluntary departures of migrants and rejected asylum seekers is according-to a media report risen.
Typical news-register sentence reporting that, according to a media report, more migrants and people whose asylum applications were rejected have left the country of their own accord. The zufolge phrase attributes the claim to the report rather than asserting it as the speaker's own fact.
Declarative main clause. The finite auxiliary ist (3rd person singular of sein) stands in second position after the long subject and combines with the clause-final past participle gestiegen to form the perfect with sein, which steigen takes as a verb of movement and change. The subject is the extended noun phrase Die Zahl der freiwilligen Ausreisen von Migranten und abgelehnten Asylsuchenden: the feminine head noun Zahl is nominative, expanded by a genitive attribute (der freiwilligen Ausreisen) and a von-phrase containing two coordinated dative nouns. Einem Medienbericht zufolge is an attribution adverbial built with the postposition zufolge, which governs the dative and follows its noun.
Rules at work(13)
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ist
The ten-word subject fills the first position, so the finite auxiliary ist stands in second position, as main clauses require.
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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ist gestiegen
Steigen expresses a change or movement, so its perfect is formed with sein rather than haben.
Verbs of motion from one place to another and verbs of change of state take sein rather than haben in the perfect, along with sein, werden and bleiben themselves. Er ist gegangen, not er hat gegangen.
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der freiwilligen Ausreisen
The genitive attribute expresses 'number of what?', replacing an English of-phrase.
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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einem Medienbericht zufolge
Zufolge governs the dative, so the article appears as einem.
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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der freiwilligen Ausreisen
After the definite article der the adjective takes the weak ending -en in the genitive plural.
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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abgelehnten
The past participle of ablehnen is used attributively before a noun, like an ordinary adjective.
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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Asylsuchenden
The participle suchend with Asyl is nominalised and keeps adjectival declension: die Asylsuchenden.
An adjective can be capitalised and used as a noun, and it goes on taking adjective endings: der Alte, ein Alter, etwas Neues.
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einem Medienbericht zufolge
The preposition stands after its dative object instead of before it, marking the whole report as attributed hearsay.
Zufolge means 'according to' and normally follows the dative noun phrase it governs, a pattern typical of news and formal writing for attributing information to a source.
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gestiegen
Strong verb: ge- prefix plus vowel change ei > ie, placed at the end of the clause.
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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von Migranten
Von always takes the dative, giving Migranten with its dative plural -n.
Aus, außer, bei, mit, nach, seit, von and zu always take the dative. Several of them contract with the article: von dem becomes vom, zu der becomes zur.
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abgelehnten Asylsuchenden
With no article present, the attributive participle itself carries the strong dative plural ending -en.
With no article in front of it the adjective has to carry the case marking itself, so it takes the endings the definite article would have had, with the exception of the masculine and neuter genitive singular.
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Die Zahl
Zahl is feminine, so the nominative article is die.
Every German noun is masculine, feminine or neuter. The gender is a property of the word rather than of the thing it names, and it decides the form of every article, adjective and pronoun that refers to it, so it has to be learned with the noun.
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Medienbericht
Media + Bericht form one noun whose gender and plural follow the final element Bericht.
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(14)
- der
the
determinerA1definite
Appears twice: dative feminine 'der Wirtschaft' and nominative plural 'die Beschlüsse'.
- die Zahl
number, figure
nounA2pl. Zahlengen. Zahlstrong declension
'die Zahl der ...' takes a genitive complement; do not confuse with 'die Nummer'.
- freiwillig
voluntary, voluntarily, of one's own accord
adjectiveB1freiwilliger, am freiwilligsten
Adjective and adverb have the same form: freiwillig ausreisen means 'to leave voluntarily'.
- die Ausreise
departure from a country, leaving the country
nounB2pl. Ausreisengen. Ausreisestrong declension
- von
from, of, by
prepositionA1governs dative
Used here to mark authorship, like 'by' in English credits.
- der Migrant
migrant
nounB1pl. Migrantengen. Migrantenweak declension
- und
and
conjunctionA1coordinating
- ablehnen
to reject, to turn down, to decline
verbB1ablehnen, lehnte ab, hat abgelehntmit habenweak
- der Asylsuchende
asylum seeker
nounC1pl. Asylsuchendengen. Asylsuchendenadjectival declension
Declined like an adjective: der Asylsuchende, die Asylsuchende, plural die Asylsuchenden. Refers to someone whose asylum claim is being processed, unlike an abgelehnter Asylsuchender whose claim has been turned down.
- sein
to be
verbA1sein, war, ist gewesenmit seinirregular
Copula here linking subject to predicate noun.
- ein
a, an, one
determinerA1indefinite
The form einer here is dative feminine singular, not the pronoun meaning 'one'.
- der Medienbericht
media report
nounB2pl. Medienberichtegen. Medienberichtsstrong declension
- zufolge
according to
prepositionB2governs genitive
Follows its noun phrase: 'den Angaben zufolge'; governs the dative.
- steigen
to rise, to climb, to increase
verbB1steigen, stieg, ist gestiegenmit seinstrong
Used both literally (climbing) and figuratively for numbers and prices rising.