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Second 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
In the first six months of 2026, almost 9,300 people returned to their home countries as part of return programmes.
Word for word: In the first six months 2026 travelled almost 9,300 people in the framework of return programmes back into their homeland.
A factual report, likely journalistic or statistical, stating how many people took part in organised return migration programmes during a given period.
A declarative main sentence with verb-second word order: the temporal prepositional phrase 'In den ersten sechs Monaten 2026' occupies the first position, so the finite verb 'reisten' (preterite of 'reisen') comes second and the subject 'fast 9.300 Menschen' follows. 'ihre Heimat' is a feminine accusative noun with a possessive determiner agreeing with the plural subject.
Rules at work(8)
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In den ersten sechs Monaten 2026 reisten fast 9.300 Menschen
The fronted time phrase occupies position one, forcing the finite verb into second position.
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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In den ersten sechs Monaten ... zurück in ihre Heimat
'in' takes dative for the time span but accusative for motion towards 'ihre Heimat'.
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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reisten ... zurück
The prefix 'zurück-' of 'zurückreisen' is separated and placed at the end of the clause.
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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Menschen reisten
The preterite verb takes the third person plural ending -en to agree with 'Menschen'.
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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reisten
The simple past is preferred over the perfect in written, especially journalistic, German.
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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ihre Heimat
'ihre' agrees with the plural possessor 'Menschen' and marks the feminine accusative noun 'Heimat'.
Mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer and Ihr take their stem from the owner and their ending from the thing owned, which is why seine Mutter and ihr Vater are the way they are.
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Menschen
'Mensch' belongs to the weak nouns that add -(e)n outside the nominative singular; the plural is also 'Menschen'.
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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Rückkehrprogrammen
The compound joins 'Rückkehr' and 'Programm' without spacing.
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(17)
- in
in, into
prepositionA1governs accusative or dative
Dative for location, accusative for direction.
- 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'.
- sechs
six
numeralA1
- der Monat
month
nounA1pl. Monategen. Monatsstrong declension
- 2026
2026
numeralA1
- reisen
to travel
verbA1reisen, reiste, ist gereistmit seinweak
- fast
almost, nearly
adverbA2degree
- 9300
9,300
numeralA2
- der Mensch
human being, person
nounA1pl. Menschengen. Menschenweak declension
Weak n-declension: the genitive singular is Menschen and every plural form is Menschen.
- im
in the
prepositionA1governs dative
Fixed fusion of in + dem; the dative is built in.
- der Rahmen
frame, context
nounB1pl. Rahmengen. Rahmensweak declension
Almost always met in the fixed phrase 'im Rahmen von' = within the scope of.
- von
from, of, by
prepositionA1governs dative
Used here to mark authorship, like 'by' in English credits.
- das Rückkehrprogramm
return programme
nounC1pl. Rückkehrprogrammegen. Rückkehrprogrammsstrong declension
- zurück
back
verbA2zurückreisen, reiste zurück, ist zurückgereistmit seinseparableweak
- ihr
their, her
determinerA2possessive
Refers to feminine or plural possessors; here 'its' (the commission's).
- die Heimat
home, homeland
nounB1pl. Heimatengen. Heimatstrong declension