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From Merz im Waldbrandgebiet: Der Kanzler zeigt sich wieder, tagesschau.de, 22 August 2026. Quoted for study. The words are the publisher's; the analysis is ours.
Meaning
Since 29 July, Friedrich Merz had not appeared in public and had been criticised for it from many quarters.
Word for word: Since the 29th July had himself Friedrich Merz not publicly shown and was for-that from many sides criticised become.
Reports that up to a point in the past Merz had stayed out of public view since 29 July and that this had drawn criticism; typical of news reporting setting background before a past event.
Two coordinated main clauses in the pluperfect. The first uses the reflexive verb 'sich zeigen' with 'hatte ... gezeigt'; the second is a passive ('war ... kritisiert worden') built with the past participle of 'werden'. 'Seit' governs the dative ('dem 29. Juli'), and 'von' also takes the dative ('vielen Seiten').
Rules at work(8)
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hatte ... gezeigt
The first clause reports an action completed before a past reference point, so German uses the pluperfect with 'hatte' plus the past participle.
The pluperfect describes what had already happened before some other past event. It is built like the perfect but with hatte or war instead of hat or ist, and it very often appears in a clause introduced by nachdem.
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war ... kritisiert worden
The second clause expresses that criticism came to Merz from others; the pluperfect passive is formed with 'war' plus 'kritisiert worden'.
Werden plus a past participle. The agent, when it is mentioned at all, follows von for a person and durch for a means. In the perfect passive the participle of werden appears as worden rather than geworden.
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hatte sich ... gezeigt
'Sich zeigen' requires the accusative reflexive pronoun 'sich' agreeing with the subject.
A reflexive verb takes a pronoun pointing back at the subject. The pronoun is usually accusative, but it turns dative as soon as the verb has another direct object, which is why it is ich wasche mich but ich wasche mir die Hände.
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Seit dem 29. Juli
'Seit' always governs the dative, hence 'dem 29. Juli'.
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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dafür
'Dafür' refers back to the previously mentioned fact (his absence) without repeating a noun phrase.
Where a preposition would be followed by a pronoun standing for a thing rather than a person, German fuses the two: damit, darauf, davon. An r appears between them when the preposition begins with a vowel.
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und
'Und' joins two independent clauses, each keeping its own finite verb in second position.
Und, aber, oder, denn and sondern join two main clauses and do not count as an element, so the word order after them is unchanged and the verb stays in second position.
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hatte sich Friedrich Merz
After the fronted time phrase 'Seit dem 29. Juli', the finite verb 'hatte' still stands in 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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29. Juli
Dates use ordinals written with a full stop, unlike English 'the 29th of July'.
Ordinals are formed with t up to nineteen and st from twenty, and they take adjective endings. Written as digits they are followed by a full stop, so der 3. Mai.
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Words(19)
- seit
since, for
prepositionA2governs dative
With time spans German uses 'seit' + present tense where English uses perfect: 'seit 13 Jahren' = 'for 13 years'.
- der
the
determinerA1definite
Appears twice: dative feminine 'der Wirtschaft' and nominative plural 'die Beschlüsse'.
- 29.
29th
numeralA1
- der Juli
July
nounA1pl. Julisgen. Julisinvariable declension
Month names are masculine and not usually preceded by an article in dates.
- haben
to have
verbA1haben, hatte, hat gehabtmit habenirregular
As an auxiliary it forms the perfect tenses of most verbs.
- sich
himself/herself/themselves, itself
pronounA2reflexive
Always refers back to the subject; here it is fixed to the verb 'sich mehren'.
- der Friedrich
Friedrich (male given name)
nounA2pl. Friedrichsgen. Friedrichsinvariable declension
- der Merz
Merz (surname)
nounC1pl. Merzesgen. Merzstrong declension
- nicht
not
adverbA1negation
Negates single words or phrases directly before them; sentence negation places it later.
- öffentlich
publicly, in public
adverbB1modal
- zeigen
to show, to point
verbA2zeigen, zeigte, hat gezeigtmit habenweak
In 'sich zeigen + adjective' it means 'to appear/prove to be', not literally 'to show something'.
- und
and
conjunctionA1coordinating
- sein
to be
verbA1sein, war, ist gewesenmit seinirregular
Copula here linking subject to predicate noun.
- dafür
for that, for it
adverbB1causal
Da-compound standing in for 'for this purpose'; English uses plain 'for it/that'.
- von
from, of, by
prepositionA1governs dative
Used here to mark authorship, like 'by' in English credits.
- viel
many, much
determinerA1quantifier
- die Seite
page, side
nounA2pl. Seitengen. Seiteweak declension
'Beide Seiten' often means 'both parties' in negotiations.
- kritisieren
to criticise, to condemn
verbB1kritisieren, kritisierte, hat kritisiertmit habenweak
Takes a plain accusative object.
- werden
become, will (future auxiliary)
verbA2werden, wurde, ist gewordenmit habenirregular
Also the passive auxiliary; do not confuse with bekommen (= receive).