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Opening sentence of Rede über Zuwanderung: Steinmeier fordert Absage an völkische Ideologie, tagesschau.de, 25 August 2026. Quoted for study. The words are the publisher's; the analysis is ours.
Meaning
It is the Federal President's first public event in his transitional residence – and Steinmeier uses it to warn against a relapse into völkisch (ethno-nationalist) thinking.
Word for word: It is the first public-event of the Federal-President in his transitional-quarters – and Steinmeier uses it for a warning before a relapse into völkisch thinking.
A news-style sentence reporting that Steinmeier held his first public event at his temporary quarters and used it to caution against nationalist, ethnic-ideological thinking.
A compound sentence joined by the coordinating conjunction 'und'. The first clause is a copular sentence with 'sein' plus a predicate noun phrase; genitive attributes ('des Bundespräsidenten', 'einer Warnung') and a possessive determiner ('seinem') mark relationships. 'vor' governs the dative ('einem Rückfall').
Rules at work(7)
-
ist
The finite verb stands in second position in both main clauses.
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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und
'und' joins two independent main clauses without changing word order.
Und, aber, oder, denn and sondern join two main clauses and do not count as an element, so the word order after them is unchanged and the verb stays in second position.
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des Bundespräsidenten
'des Bundespräsidenten' is a genitive attribute marking possession.
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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in seinem Übergangsquartier
'in' takes dative for location, accusative for direction; here it is location.
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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Warnung vor einem Rückfall
'Warnung' is fixed with 'vor' + dative.
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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des Bundespräsidenten
'Bundespräsident' adds -en in the genitive singular as a weak noun.
A group of masculine nouns takes an n or en in every case but the nominative singular: der Student but den Studenten, dem Studenten, des Studenten. Most denote people and many end in e, ent, ist or ant.
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völkisches Denken
With no article, the adjective carries the strong ending -es showing neuter accusative.
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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Words(19)
- es
it
pronounA1personal
Often a dummy subject, as in es geht darum.
- sein
to be
verbA1sein, war, ist gewesenmit seinirregular
Copula here linking subject to predicate noun.
- der
the
determinerA1definite
Appears twice: dative feminine 'der Wirtschaft' and nominative plural 'die Beschlüsse'.
- erst
first, only, not until (adverb)
adjectiveA1
As an ordinal adjective it is declined like any adjective; as an adverb 'erst' means 'not until/only'.
- die Publikumsveranstaltung
public event, event open to the audience
nounC1pl. Publikumsveranstaltungengen. Publikumsveranstaltungmixed declension
- der Bundespräsident
Federal President (of Germany)
nounB2pl. Bundespräsidentengen. Bundespräsidentenweak declension
- in
in, into
prepositionA1governs accusative or dative
Dative for location, accusative for direction.
- sein
his, its
determinerA1possessive
Endings agree with the thing possessed, not the owner: seinem Sondervermögen is dative neuter because Sondervermögen is das; here it means 'its' (the Bund's).
- das Übergangsquartier
transitional quarters, temporary residence
nounC2pl. Übergangsquartieregen. Übergangsquartiersstrong declension
- und
and
conjunctionA1coordinating
- der Steinmeier
Steinmeier (German surname)
nounC1pl. Steinmeiersgen. Steinmeiersinvariable declension
- nutzen
to use, to make use of
verbA2nutzen, nutzte, hat genutztmit habenweakgoverns accusative
- sie
she, they, it (referring to feminine nouns)
pronounA1personal
Here accusative singular feminine, referring back to 'die Publikumsveranstaltung'.
- für
for
prepositionA1governs accusative
Here für Dienstag names the day the forecast applies to, not a beneficiary.
- ein
a, an, one
determinerA1indefinite
The form einer here is dative feminine singular, not the pronoun meaning 'one'.
- die Warnung
warning
nounB1pl. Warnungengen. Warnungmixed declension
- vor
before, in front of, ago
prepositionA1governs dative
With clock time ('vor 7 Uhr') it means 'before' and takes no visible case change.
- der Rückfall
relapse, setback
nounB2pl. Rückfällegen. Rückfallsstrong declension
- völkisch
ethno-nationalist, ethnic-national, völkisch
adjectiveC2-, -
Historically loaded term tied to racist ideology; not a neutral word for 'ethnic'.