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Opening sentence of Hitzetote in Deutschland: "Die meisten Todesfälle hätte man verhindern können", tagesschau.de, 20 August 2026. Quoted for study. The words are the publisher's; the analysis is ours.
Meaning
At least 14,000 people have died from the heat this year - more than in any single full year before.
Word for word: At least 14,000 people are in this year heat-related to death come - more than in every single total-year previously.
The sentence reports that heat has killed at least 14,000 people this year, stressing that this exceeds every previous complete year's toll; typical of news reporting on climate and health statistics.
A main clause in the perfect tense with sein as auxiliary: 'sind ... gekommen' frames the middle field. 'Mindestens' modifies the numeral subject '14.000 Menschen' in the nominative. 'In diesem Jahr' and 'in jedem einzelnen Gesamtjahr' are dative phrases after the two-way preposition 'in' with a time meaning. 'Hitzebedingt' is an adverbial participle adjective without an ending. 'Zu Tode gekommen' is a fixed construction 'zu Tode kommen' (to die of). The comparative 'mehr als' introduces the comparison.
Rules at work(8)
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sind ... gekommen
kommen forms its perfect with sein, and the auxiliary sind agrees with the plural subject.
Verbs of motion from one place to another and verbs of change of state take sein rather than haben in the perfect, along with sein, werden and bleiben themselves. Er ist gegangen, not er hat gegangen.
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in diesem Jahr
'in' with a time expression takes the dative, so diesem Jahr is dative.
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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in diesem Jahr ... in jedem einzelnen Gesamtjahr
'in' governs dative or accusative; both uses here are static/time expressions and take dative.
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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mehr als
'mehr' is the comparative of viel and 'als' introduces what it is compared with.
German adds er and st rather than using more and most, however long the adjective. Many one syllable adjectives take an umlaut, and the superlative before a noun takes an ordinary adjective ending while a standalone one uses am plus sten.
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sind
The finite auxiliary is in the present tense, which is how German builds the perfect.
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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14.000 Menschen
The subject of the clause stands in the nominative.
The nominative marks the subject of the clause: whoever or whatever is doing the verb. It is also the case used after the verbs sein, werden and bleiben, so both sides of Das ist mein Bruder stand in the nominative.
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Gesamtjahr
A compound noun formed from gesamt + Jahr, 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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diesem
The demonstrative determiner dies points to the current year.
Dieser and jener decline like the definite article. The article forms themselves are also used demonstratively in speech, with stress doing the work: Den kenne ich.
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Words(17)
- mindestens
at least
adverbB1degree
- 14.000
14,000
numeralA1
- der Mensch
human being, person
nounA1pl. Menschengen. Menschenweak declension
Weak n-declension: the genitive singular is Menschen and every plural form is Menschen.
- sein
to be
verbA1sein, war, ist gewesenmit seinirregular
Copula here linking subject to predicate noun.
- in
in, into
prepositionA1governs accusative or dative
Dative for location, accusative for direction.
- dies
this, that
determinerA1demonstrative
- das Jahr
year
nounA1pl. Jahregen. Jahresstrong declension
- hitzebedingt
heat-related, caused by heat
adjectiveC1
- zu
to, at, too
prepositionA1governs dative
With verbs of movement it takes dative even though motion is involved.
- der Tod
death
nounA2pl. Todegen. Todesmixed declension
'zu Tode kommen' means to die; do not confuse with 'tödlich' (fatal).
- kommen
to come
verbA1kommen, kam, ist gekommenmit seinstrong
Figurative here: the decisions should 'come', i.e. appear soon.
- mehr
more
adverbA1degree
Comparative of viel; before nouns it works like a quantifier with no article.
- als
as, than, when (past)
conjunctionA2correlative
here 'als Land' means 'as a country'; also used for comparisons and after 'als' in past-time clauses
- jeder
every, each
determinerA2quantifier
- einzeln
single, individual
adjectiveB1einzelner, am einzelnensten
- das Gesamtjahr
full year, entire year
nounC1pl. Gesamtjahregen. Gesamtjahresstrong declension
- zuvor
before, previously, beforehand
adverbB2temporal