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Third sentence of Merz in der Sommerpause: Das Schweigen des Kanzlers, tagesschau.de, 19 August 2026. Quoted for study. The words are the publisher's; the analysis is ours.
Meaning
Political hotspots must put others out.
Word for word: Political fire-hearths must others tread-out.
An unusual, probably metaphorical sentence saying that political trouble spots must extinguish or drive out others; normally one would expect a different word order or wording, so learners should treat it as marked.
A plural noun phrase with a strongly declined adjective before a zero article is the subject in the nominative. The modal verb müssen is conjugated and stands in second position; the dependent infinitive austreten of the separable verb aus|treten stands at the end of the clause, separated from its prefix.
Rules at work(5)
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Brandherde müssen
The finite modal verb occupies the second position after the subject phrase, as required in a German main clause.
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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müssen ... austreten
The modal müssen is conjugated while the lexical verb appears as a bare infinitive at the end of the clause.
The six modals können, müssen, dürfen, sollen, wollen and mögen say something about the main verb rather than naming an action. The modal is the finite verb in second position and the main verb goes to the end of the clause as an infinitive.
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Politische Brandherde
The subject of the sentence 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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Politische Brandherde
With no article before a plural noun the adjective takes the strong ending -e.
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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andere
'Andere' is a substantivised adjective used as a pronoun-like noun and declined accordingly.
An adjective can be capitalised and used as a noun, and it goes on taking adjective endings: der Alte, ein Alter, etwas Neues.
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Words(5)
- politisch
political
adjectiveA2politischer, am politischsten
Usually refers to public or state affairs, not personal matters.
- der Brandherd
seat of fire, hotbed, trouble spot
nounC1pl. Brandherdegen. Brandherdesstrong declension
Mostly used figuratively for centres of conflict, e.g. politische Brandherde.
- müssen
must, to have to
verbA1müssen, musste, hat gemusstmit habenmodal
The dependent infinitive goes to the end of the clause.
- ander-
other, another
pronounA1indefinite
Substantivised form declined like an adjective; 'die anderen' means 'the others'.
- austreten
to go out, to leave (an organisation), to extinguish (rare, regional), to leak
verbB2austreten, trat aus, ist ausgetretenmit seinseparablestrong
Commonly means to resign from a party or club (aus der Partei austreten); the meaning 'extinguish' is dialectal, which makes this sentence odd.