Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

### Imminent Events with "drohen" and "versprechen"

In German, you can express that an event is imminent or highly likely by using the verbs **drohen** (to threaten) and **versprechen** (to promise). Just like in English, they act as subject-raising verbs and are paired with **zu** and an infinitive verb at the end of the clause.

Use **drohen** to warn of an impending negative consequence, such as a looming strike or failing negotiations.

{{item:884224}}

Conversely, use **versprechen** to express the expectation of a positive outcome.

{{item:884229}}

### Separable Verbs in "zu" Clauses

When the infinitive verb in your sentence has a separable prefix, the **zu** is sandwiched directly between the prefix and the verb stem, forming a single word.

For example, *zusammenbrechen* (to collapse) becomes **zusammenzubrechen**, and *lahmlegen* (to paralyze) becomes **lahmzulegen**.

{{item:884236}}

{{item:884234}}

These structures are especially common in the news when describing tense situations like strikes, collective bargaining, and economic impacts.

Imminent events (drohen / versprechen zu)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (der, die, das)

Indefinite articles (ein, eine)

Regular verbs and statement word order (ich -e, er -t)

The second person (du -st, Sie -en)

Yes/No questions

The verb 'to have' (habe, hast, hat)

Plural pronouns and regular verbs (wir, ihr, sie)

Plural 'to be' and 'to have' (sind, haben)

Plural nouns and the plural article (die)

Sentence negation (nicht)

Noun negation (kein, keine)

Question words (wer, was, wo, wie)

Numbers 0 to 12 (null, eins, zwei)

The accusative case (den, die, das)

Indefinite accusative articles (einen, keinen)

Direct object pronouns (mich, dich, ihn)

There is / there are (es gibt)

Vowel changes: e to i/ie (er spricht, sie liest)

Vowel changes: a to ä (er fährt)

Weather and conditions (es regnet)

First- and second-person possessives in the nominative (mein, dein, Ihr)

First- and second-person possessives in the accusative (meinen, deinen, Ihren)

Third-person and plural possessives (sein, ihr, unser, euer)

Possession with names (Annas Auto)

Demonstrative pronouns (dieser, diese, dieses)

Expressing preference (gern, lieber)

Asking about direction and origin (woher, wohin)

Expressing ability (können)

Polite requests (möchten)

Expressing intention (wollen)

Modal verbs of obligation and permission (müssen, dürfen)

Separable prefix verbs

Adverbs of frequency (immer, oft, manchmal, nie)

The Dative case and definite articles (dem, der, den)

Dative indefinite and negative articles (einem, einer, keinem)

Dative personal pronouns (mir, dir, ihm, ihr...)

Dative verbs (helfen, danken, gefallen, schmecken)

Dative prepositions (aus, bei, mit, nach...)

Accusative prepositions (für, ohne, gegen)

Two-way prepositions for location (in, an, auf...)

Informal singular imperative (mach, komm)

Plural and formal imperative (macht, machen Sie)

Coordinating conjunctions (und, oder, aber, denn)

Simple past of sein and haben (war, hatte)

The perfect tense: regular verbs (gemacht, gespielt)

Past tense: irregular verbs (ge-...-en)

The perfect tense: mixed verbs (gebracht, gekannt)

The perfect tense with sein (ist gegangen)

The perfect tense: separable verbs (eingekauft)

The perfect tense: inseparable and -ieren verbs (besucht, studiert)

Informal singular commands (mach, lern)

Numbers 13 to 20 (dreizehn to zwanzig)

Counting by tens to 100 (dreißig, vierzig)

Telling time (Uhr, halb, Viertel, vor, nach)

Numbers 21 to 99 (einundzwanzig, zweiunddreißig)

Greetings and farewells

Thank you, sorry and good wishes

Everyday replies

Numbers 100 to 1,000,000 (hundert, tausend...)

Becoming and getting (werden)

The impersonal pronoun (man)

Indefinite pronouns (jemand, niemand...)

Time sequence prepositions (vor, nach, bei)

Time span prepositions (von... bis, seit, für)

Adverbs of sequence (zuerst, dann, danach)

Two-way prepositions for direction (in, auf, an...)

Directional adverbs (hin, her)

Placement verbs (setzen, stellen, legen)

Months of the year (Januar, Februar)

The four seasons (Frühling, Sommer)

Time prepositions and indefinite pronouns (an, in, um)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 19th (am ersten)

Ordinals 20th and beyond (-ste, -sten)

Placement vs. location verbs (stellen vs. stehen)

Accusative reflexive pronouns (mich, dich, sich)

Accusative reflexive verbs (sich freuen)

Dative reflexive pronouns (mir, dir, sich)

Dative reflexive verbs (sich etwas merken)

Ordinal numbers 11th to 19th (-te)

Temporal prepositions (an, in, um)

Double objects with nouns

Double objects with pronouns

The modal verb for advice (sollen)

Simple past of modal verbs (musste, wollte...)

Simple past of common irregulars (wurde, wusste, es gab)

Adverbial connectors of consequence (deshalb, darum...)

Subordinate clauses for statements (dass)

Question	Answer
the labor union	die Gewerkschaft
to threaten (with consequences or impending danger)	drohen
to fail (projects, plans, endeavors)	scheitern
The negotiations with the labor union threaten to fail.	Die Verhandlungen mit der Gewerkschaft drohen zu scheitern.
the agreement (consensus or settlement)	die Einigung
the employer	der Arbeitgeber
However, the agreement with the employer threatens to fail.	Allerdings droht die Einigung mit dem Arbeitgeber zu scheitern.
the collective agreement	der Tarifvertrag
A new collective agreement promises to improve the situation.	Ein neuer Tarifvertrag verspricht die Situation zu verbessern.
to strike	streiken
Starting on Monday, the employees of the railway threaten to strike.	Ab Montag drohen die Mitarbeiter der Bahn zu streiken.
As soon as the collective agreement ends, the labor union threatens to strike again.	Sobald der Tarifvertrag endet, droht die Gewerkschaft wieder zu streiken.
to paralyze	lahmlegen
The strike threatens to paralyze the train station.	Der Streik droht den Bahnhof lahmzulegen.
to collapse	zusammenbrechen
The traffic threatens to collapse, which is why people are staying at home.	Der Verkehr droht zusammenzubrechen, weswegen die Leute zu Hause bleiben.
The employers' offer promises to bring an agreement soon.	Das Angebot der Arbeitgeber verspricht bald eine Einigung zu bringen.
to drag on	sich hinziehen
The company threatens to collapse, which is why the negotiations must not drag on.	Die Firma droht zusammenzubrechen, weshalb die Verhandlungen sich nicht hinziehen dürfen.
The conflict threatens to drag on for a long time and paralyze the factory.	Der Konflikt droht sich lange hinzuziehen und die Fabrik lahmzulegen.