Few texts pack as much advanced German into so few words as the opening article of the Grundgesetz (the Basic Law, Germany's constitution, 1949). The text below is the official, public-domain wording of Artikel 1, Absatz 1–2 — German law is not subject to copyright. In three sentences it deploys almost the entire formal toolkit: the sein + zu + Infinitiv obligation construction, agentless passives, dense Nominalstil, genitive chains, and the flat, timeless declarative tone of legal prose. Read it slowly and you consolidate the whole C1 register at once.
The text
Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar.
Human dignity is inviolable.
Sie zu achten und zu schützen ist Verpflichtung aller staatlichen Gewalt.
To respect and protect it is the duty of all state authority.
Das Deutsche Volk bekennt sich darum zu unverletzlichen und unveräußerlichen Menschenrechten als Grundlage jeder menschlichen Gemeinschaft, des Friedens und der Gerechtigkeit in der Welt.
The German people therefore acknowledge inviolable and inalienable human rights as the basis of every human community, of peace and of justice in the world.
A modern paraphrase
Stripped of its solemnity, the article says: A person's dignity must never be violated. Every part of the state has the job of respecting it and protecting it. That is why the German people commit to human rights that cannot be taken away — they are the foundation of any community, of peace, and of fairness everywhere. Notice how the paraphrase needs more words and more verbs; the original is denser precisely because of the grammar below.
Grammar in context
sein + zu + Infinitiv: the obligation/possibility construction
The hardest clause for English speakers is Sie zu achten und zu schützen ist Verpflichtung. The phrase zu achten und zu schützen is sein + zu + infinitive, a construction that fuses sein with a zu-infinitive to express obligation or possibility — equivalent to a passive with a modal. Here, read as obligation, it means "it is to be respected and protected" = "it must be respected and protected".
The same construction surfaces constantly in official and technical German:
Die Würde des Menschen ist zu achten.
Human dignity is to be respected. (= must be respected)
Das Formular ist bis Freitag einzureichen.
The form is to be submitted by Friday. (= must be submitted)
Der Fehler ist leicht zu beheben.
The error is easy to fix. (= can easily be fixed — possibility reading)
What makes it terse is that it carries no agent and no modal verb on the surface — the obligation is built into ist ... zu. In the Grundgesetz, the infinitives are even fronted: Sie zu achten und zu schützen (the whole infinitive phrase) is the subject, and ist Verpflichtung the predicate. Fronting the duty before naming who holds it gives the sentence its weight.
Nominalstil: the noun-heavy style of authority
Legal and bureaucratic German is written in Nominalstil — abstract nouns carry the meaning where everyday German would use verbs. The article is built from heavyweight abstractions: die Würde ("dignity"), die Verpflichtung ("duty/obligation"), die Gewalt ("authority/power"), die Grundlage ("foundation"), der Friede ("peace"), die Gerechtigkeit ("justice"), die Gemeinschaft ("community"). Many are nominalizations of verbs or adjectives: die Verpflichtung from verpflichten, die Gerechtigkeit from gerecht.
Die Verpflichtung zum Schutz der Würde gilt für alle.
The obligation to protect dignity applies to everyone. (nominal: Verpflichtung, Schutz, Würde)
This style is denser and more impersonal than verbal German — exactly what a constitution wants. The trade-off is that abstract nouns hide who does what, lending the text an air of timeless, agent-free authority. For the mechanics, see nominal style and nominalization.
Genitive chains: stacking the relationships
Watch the long genitive string in the third sentence: Grundlage *jeder menschlichen Gemeinschaft, des Friedens und der Gerechtigkeit in der Welt. Three genitive phrases hang off *Grundlage ("foundation of..."): jeder menschlichen Gemeinschaft (genitive feminine), des Friedens (genitive masculine, with the diagnostic -(e)s ending: Friede → Friedens), and der Gerechtigkeit (genitive feminine). Likewise the first article gives us die Würde des Menschen ("the dignity of man", genitive masculine des Menschen, an n-declension noun).
die Würde des Menschen
the dignity of man (genitive: des Menschen)
als Grundlage des Friedens und der Gerechtigkeit
as the basis of peace and of justice (genitive chain)
Verpflichtung aller staatlichen Gewalt
the duty of all state authority (genitive: aller ... Gewalt)
These genitive chains are a hallmark of formal written German. The repeated -(e)s and -er/-en endings are the connective tissue that lets the language stack relationships compactly. See genitive functions.
Passive and agentlessness
Although Article 1 uses sein + zu + Infinitiv rather than a full werden-passive, its effect is the same: no agent is named. Who must respect dignity? The construction does not say a person; it says alle staatliche Gewalt ("all state authority") — an abstraction, not a human. Legal German systematically removes the human actor, either through the passive (Die Würde wird geschützt — "dignity is protected") or through man and abstract subjects. This impersonality is deliberate: the law binds everyone and no one in particular.
Die Menschenwürde wird durch das Grundgesetz geschützt.
Human dignity is protected by the Basic Law. (werden-passive)
Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar — niemand darf sie verletzen.
Human dignity is inviolable — no one may violate it. (the agentless original spelled out)
On choosing between man and the passive for agentless statements, see man vs. passive.
The reflexive sich bekennen zu
The third sentence's verb is sich bekennen zu — "to commit oneself to / acknowledge / profess". It is reflexive (sich) and governs the dative with zu: bekennt sich ... zu unverletzlichen ... Menschenrechten. The plural noun Menschenrechten shows the dative-plural -n ending (Rechte → Rechten). This is a verb of solemn declaration — you bekennst dich zu your principles, your faith, your mistakes.
Das Volk bekennt sich zu den Menschenrechten.
The people commit themselves to human rights. (sich bekennen zu + dative)
The declarative present and a note on the optative subjunctive
The whole article stands in the present indicative — ist, bekennt sich — because constitutional law is written as eternally valid fact, not as something that happened or might be. There is no hedging, no Konjunktiv, no future: the present declarative is the law's voice.
It is worth contrasting this with the other great register of solemn German, where the optative Konjunktiv I appears — the es sei / es werde of wishes, blessings, and decrees. Article 1 does not use it, but you will meet it in older legal and liturgical texts:
Es werde Licht.
Let there be light. (optative Konjunktiv I — Luther's Bible, public domain)
Es sei darauf hingewiesen, dass die Frist abläuft.
Let it be noted that the deadline is expiring. (fixed optative formula, very formal)
The Luther Bible's Es werde Licht (Genesis 1:3) is itself a public-domain landmark of German prose; the es sei/es werde pattern survives today only in frozen formulas. See subjunctive fixed expressions.
A note on spelling
The Grundgesetz predates the 1996 spelling reform, but Article 1's wording happens to contain none of the famous pre-reform forms (daß, muß). Elsewhere in pre-reform legal texts you will still see daß (now dass) and muß (now muss) — the ß replaced by ss after a short vowel. When reading historical German documents, treat daß/muß/Fluß as the older spellings of dass/muss/Fluss; the grammar is identical.
Vocabulary
| German | English | Note |
|---|---|---|
| die Würde | dignity | fem.; die Menschenwürde = human dignity |
| unantastbar | inviolable, untouchable | predicate adjective here; antasten = to touch/violate |
| achten | to respect, hold in regard | etwas achten = to respect something |
| die Verpflichtung | obligation, duty | fem.; from verpflichten |
| die (staatliche) Gewalt | (state) authority, power | fem.; legal sense, not "violence" here |
| sich bekennen zu | to commit to, profess, acknowledge | reflexive + zu + dative |
| unveräußerlich | inalienable | cannot be sold/given away (rights) |
| die Grundlage | foundation, basis | fem.; governs the genitive |
| die Gerechtigkeit | justice | fem.; from gerecht |
Common mistakes
❌ Sie zu achten und zu schützen ist verpflichtet aller staatlichen Gewalt.
Incorrect — the predicate is the noun Verpflichtung (a duty), not the participle verpflichtet.
✅ Sie zu achten und zu schützen ist Verpflichtung aller staatlichen Gewalt.
To respect and protect it is the duty of all state authority.
❌ Der Antrag ist zu geprüft.
Incorrect — sein + zu takes the plain infinitive (prüfen), not the past participle.
✅ Der Antrag ist zu prüfen.
The application is to be examined / must be examined.
❌ die Würde des Mensch
Incorrect — Mensch is an n-noun; the genitive is des Menschen.
✅ die Würde des Menschen
the dignity of man
❌ als Grundlage des Frieden und der Gerechtigkeit
Incorrect — Friede needs the genitive -s: des Friedens.
✅ als Grundlage des Friedens und der Gerechtigkeit
as the basis of peace and of justice
❌ Das Volk bekennt sich zu den Menschenrechte.
Incorrect — the dative plural adds -n: zu den Menschenrechten.
✅ Das Volk bekennt sich zu den Menschenrechten.
The people commit themselves to human rights.
Key takeaways
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- Nominal Style (Nominalstil)C1 — How formal, bureaucratic, and academic German packs actions into noun phrases — converting verbs to nominalizations, building genitive chains, and judging when the nominal style helps or harms readability.
- The Genitive CaseB1 — How German marks possession and relation with the genitive — its article forms, the -(e)s ending on masculine and neuter nouns, and why it follows the noun it modifies.
- The Passive: Overview and When to Use ItB1 — How the werden-passive works across the tenses, how to name the agent with von or durch, the sein-passive for result states, and — crucially — when German prefers man or an active instead.
- Formal and Official Style (Amtsdeutsch)C1 — The densest German register — bureaucratic Amtsdeutsch: heavy Nominalstil, Funktionsverbgefüge (in Abzug bringen for abziehen), passive and Reflexivpassiv, genitive chains, extended participial attributes and formulaic phrases — why it exists, how to decode it, and the Leichte Sprache backlash.
- Fixed Subjunctive ExpressionsC1 — Fossilized Konjunktiv I optatives (Es lebe der König!, Man nehme, Gott sei Dank) and Konjunktiv II politeness fixtures (Ich hätte gern, Wären Sie so freundlich) learned as whole units.
- man vs the PassiveB2 — When to use the indefinite pronoun man (one/you/they + active verb) versus the werden-passive to express agentless or general actions — and why natural German uses far fewer passives than English.