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Third sentence of Wagenknecht und das BSW: Mit Schlagzeilen in den Überlebenskampf, tagesschau.de, 18 August 2026. Quoted for study. The words are the publisher's; the analysis is ours.
Meaning
Founded only two and a half years earlier, it followed its meteoric rise in the eastern German state parliaments with failure at the five-percent threshold in the last federal election.
Word for word: Only before two-and-a-half years founded, followed a high-flight in East-German state diets the failing at the five-percent hurdle at the past federal-diet election.
A party founded only about two and a half years ago first soared in eastern German state elections but then failed to clear the five-percent threshold needed for seats in the most recent Bundestag election; journalistic style, typical of political reporting.
The sentence opens with a fronted past-participle phrase (gegründet) referring to the implied subject; the finite verb folgte then stands in second position (verb-second). The subject is the neuter noun das Scheitern, and folgen governs the dative (einem Höhenflug). Several prepositional phrases (vor + dative, in + dative, an + dative, bei + dative) attach location and circumstance.
Rules at work(8)
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folgte
The fronted participle phrase occupies first position, so the finite verb must come second.
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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Scheitern an der Fünf-Prozent-Hürde
scheitern is fixed with an + dative expressing what one fails at.
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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einem Höhenflug
folgen governs the dative for what follows.
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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Erst vor zweieinhalb Jahren gegründet,
A fronted past participle with modifiers acts as a reduced clause referring to the subject.
Formal written German can expand a participle before a noun into a long phrase standing between the article and the noun, where English would use a relative clause after it.
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folgte
Written narrative style favours the simple preterite over the perfect.
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 ostdeutschen Landtagen
Static location requires the dative after in.
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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ostdeutschen Landtagen
After no article in dative plural the adjective takes strong -en; with der/vergangenen the weak pattern appears too.
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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Fünf-Prozent-Hürde
Multi-part compound written with hyphens and linking elements.
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(19)
- erst
only, not until, first
adverbA2temporal
erst dann = 'only then'; do not confuse with 'erste' (first).
- vor
before, in front of, ago
prepositionA1governs dative
With clock time ('vor 7 Uhr') it means 'before' and takes no visible case change.
- zweieinhalb
two and a half
numeralB1
- das Jahr
year
nounA1pl. Jahregen. Jahresstrong declension
- gründen
to found, to establish
verbB1gründen, gründete, hat gegründetmit habenweak
- folgen
to follow
verbA2folgen, folgte, ist gefolgtmit seinweakgoverns dative
- ein
a, an, one
determinerA1indefinite
The form einer here is dative feminine singular, not the pronoun meaning 'one'.
- der Höhenflug
soaring rise, meteoric success
nounC1pl. Höhenflügegen. Höhenflugsstrong declension
- in
in, into
prepositionA1governs accusative or dative
Dative for location, accusative for direction.
- ostdeutsch
East German
adjectiveB1
- der Landtag
state parliament, diet of a federal state
nounB2pl. Landtagegen. Landtages/Landtagsstrong declension
- das
the
determinerA1definite
- das Scheitern
failure, collapse
nounB2pl. Scheiterngen. Scheiternsstrong declension
- an
on, at, by
prepositionA1governs accusative or dative
Dative for points in time and location (am Montag), accusative for direction.
- die
the
determinerA1definite
- die Fünf-Prozent-Hürde
five-percent threshold (for parliamentary seats in Germany)
nounC1pl. Fünf-Prozent-Hürdengen. Fünf-Prozent-Hürdemixed declension
- bei
at, near, with
prepositionA2governs dative
'bei 42 Prozent' = 'at 42 percent', standard in poll reporting.
- vergangen
past, last
adjectiveB1-, -
Fixed in the phrase 'im vergangenen Jahr' = last year.
- die Bundestagswahl
federal election, election to the Bundestag
nounB1pl. Bundestagswahlengen. Bundestagswahlweak declension