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From Zwei Tote, hohe Sachschäden: Schwere Unwetter in Teilen Deutschlands, tagesschau.de, 20 August 2026. Quoted for study. The words are the publisher's; the analysis is ours.
Meaning
According to the police, the 40-year-old was on his way to the nursery school with his child.
Word for word: According-to police was the 40-year-old with his child on the way to-the kindergarten.
A typical news-report sentence: the police report that a 40-year-old man was taking his child to kindergarten when something happened.
'Laut' governs the dative (laut Polizei). The subject is a nominalized adjective 'der 40-Jährige' with a weak adjective ending after the definite article, in the nominative. The possessive 'seinem' is dative masculine, and 'auf dem Weg zu + dative' expresses being en route.
Rules at work(5)
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Laut Polizei ... mit seinem Kind ... zum Kindergarten
Laut, mit and zu all govern the dative, so Polizei, Kind and Kindergarten appear in dative forms.
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.
Does this rule belong on this sentence? -
der 40-Jährige
The numeral-plus-adjective is nominalized and takes the weak adjective ending after the definite article.
An adjective can be capitalised and used as a noun, and it goes on taking adjective endings: der Alte, ein Alter, etwas Neues.
Does this rule belong on this sentence? -
war
Written narrative/news style prefers the preterite of sein 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.
Does this rule belong on this sentence? -
auf dem Weg
Auf takes the dative here because the expression describes a state, not motion onto something.
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.
Does this rule belong on this sentence? -
seinem Kind
Sein shows possession and carries the dative masculine mixed ending -em after mit.
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.
Does this rule belong on this sentence?
Words(12)
- laut
according to, per
prepositionB1governs dative
In journalistic German often followed by dative in practice despite being genitive.
- die Polizei
police
nounA1pl. Polizeiengen. der Polizeiweak declension
Singular collective noun; English uses no article ('police'), German normally does.
- 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'.
- die Jährige
person of ... years of age
nounB1pl. die 86-Jährigengen. der 86-Jährigenadjectival declension
Nominalized adjective, declined like an adjective; combined with numerals as in der 40-Jährige.
- mit
with, by (means of transport)
prepositionA1governs dative
Always dative, including travel: 'mit dem Bus, mit dem Rad'.
- 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 Kind
child
nounA1pl. Kindergen. Kindesstrong declension
- auf
on, onto
prepositionA1governs accusative or dative
Location takes the dative, movement towards the accusative.
- der Weg
way, path
nounA1pl. Wegegen. Wegesmixed declension
'Auf dem richtigen/guten Weg sein' = to be on the right track.
- zu
to, at, too
prepositionA1governs dative
With verbs of movement it takes dative even though motion is involved.
- der Kindergarten
kindergarten, nursery school
nounA1pl. Kindergärtengen. Kindergartensstrong declension