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Opening sentence of Teillegalisierung in Deutschland: Wo Cannabis boomt und wo es Probleme gibt, tagesschau.de, 21 August 2026. Quoted for study. The words are the publisher's; the analysis is ours.
Meaning
Sometimes celebrated as a success, sometimes harshly criticised: even after more than two years, the partial legalisation of cannabis continues to spark debates.
Word for word: Sometimes as success celebrated, sometimes harshly in the criticism: even after more than two years worries the partial-legalisation of cannabis further for debates.
The sentence says that cannabis partial legalisation is judged very differently — praised by some, attacked by others — and that even after more than two years it still gives rise to public debate. Typical of news and commentary writing.
The sentence opens with a fronted participial phrase built on the correlative 'mal ... mal' (sometimes ... sometimes), in which the past participle 'gefeiert' and the prepositional phrase 'in der Kritik' describe alternating assessments. After the colon, the finite verb 'sorgt' stands in second position because the temporal phrase 'Auch nach mehr als zwei Jahren' occupies the first position; the subject 'die Teillegalisierung von Cannabis' follows the verb, and 'für Debatten' is a fixed prepositional object of 'sorgen für'.
Rules at work(8)
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Auch nach mehr als zwei Jahren sorgt die Teillegalisierung
The fronted adverbial phrase fills the first position, so the finite verb 'sorgt' must come second and the subject follows it.
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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Mal als Erfolg gefeiert, mal heftig in der Kritik
'Mal ... mal' pairs two contrasting descriptions of the same thing.
Entweder oder, sowohl als auch, weder noch, nicht nur sondern auch and je desto come in two parts. Weder noch negates by itself, and je desto sends the verb to the end of the je clause.
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gefeiert
The past participle opens a participial phrase with passive meaning ('sometimes celebrated as a success') instead of forming a finite tense.
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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sorgt ... für Debatten
'sorgen für' is a fixed verb-preposition combination meaning 'to cause' or 'to provide for'.
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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in der Kritik
'in' takes the dative here because it describes a state (being under criticism), not movement.
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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nach mehr als zwei Jahren
'nach' always governs the dative, hence 'Jahren' in dative plural.
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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sorgt
The present tense reports an ongoing state of affairs that still holds after two years.
The present describes what is happening now, what happens habitually, and very often what is going to happen, since German uses the present with a time expression where English would use a future.
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Teillegalisierung
The noun is a compound of 'Teil' and 'Legalisierung', written as one word.
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(20)
- mal
sometimes (in mal ... mal), once, just (casual particle)
adverbA2
In the correlative 'mal ... mal' it means 'sometimes ... sometimes'; as a casual particle ('komm mal her') it softens an utterance.
- als
as, than, when (past)
conjunctionA2correlative
here 'als Land' means 'as a country'; also used for comparisons and after 'als' in past-time clauses
- der Erfolg
success
nounA2pl. Erfolgegen. Erfolgesstrong declension
- feiern
celebrate, party
verbA2feiern, feierte, hat gefeiertmit habenweak
- heftig
violent, severe, intense
adjectiveB1heftiger, am heftigsten
- in
in, into
prepositionA1governs accusative or dative
Dative for location, accusative for direction.
- die
the
determinerA1definite
- die Kritik
criticism, critique
nounB1pl. Kritikengen. Kritikstrong declension
Plural 'Kritiken' usually means reviews (of films, books); 'Kritik' singular usually means criticism.
- auch
also, too
adverbA1modal
Focus particle; here it means the ministers are included among others already named.
- nach
after
prepositionA1governs dative
With places it means movement towards; here temporal 'after'.
- mehr
more
adverbA1degree
Comparative of viel; before nouns it works like a quantifier with no article.
- zwei
two
numeralA1
- das Jahr
year
nounA1pl. Jahregen. Jahresstrong declension
- sorgen
to provide for, to cause, to worry
verbB1sorgen, sorgte, hat gesorgtmit habenweaksorgen für + accusative
'sorgen für etwas' means 'to cause something', often something notable or negative; do not confuse with 'sich sorgen um' (to worry about).
- die Teillegalisierung
partial legalization
nounC1pl. Teillegalisierungengen. Teillegalisierungstrong declension
- von
from, of, by
prepositionA1governs dative
Used here to mark authorship, like 'by' in English credits.
- das Cannabis
cannabis
nounB2pl. Cannabissortengen. Cannabisinvariable declension
- weiter
further, farther, on, continuing
adverbA2temporal
Here adverbial 'keep on doing something'; the adjective meaning 'additional' would be weitere.
- für
for
prepositionA1governs accusative
Here für Dienstag names the day the forecast applies to, not a beneficiary.
- die Debatte
debate
nounB1pl. Debattengen. Debattestrong declension