Breakdown of Der Minister wusste, dass die Mehrheit der armen Bürger wütend wurde.
wissen
to know (a fact)
werden
to become / to get (change of state)
wütend
angry
arm
poor
dass
that
der Minister
the minister
die Mehrheit
the majority
der Bürger
the citizen
Questions & Answers about Der Minister wusste, dass die Mehrheit der armen Bürger wütend wurde.
Why is it der armen Bürger if Bürger is a plural noun here?
In this sentence, der armen Bürger means "of the poor citizens", which requires the Genitive case. The plural definite article in the Genitive case is der. When an adjective follows a definite article in the Genitive case, it takes the ending -en. Therefore, the adjective arm becomes armen.
Does die Mehrheit always take a singular verb, even though it refers to many citizens?
Yes. Even though die Mehrheit (the majority) describes a large group of people, the noun itself is grammatically singular. The verb must agree with the grammatical number of its subject, so we use the singular wurde rather than the plural wurden.
Why is wurde at the very end of the sentence?
The word dass (that) is a subordinating conjunction. It introduces a subordinate clause and forces the conjugated verb for that specific clause, which in this case is wurde, to the very end of the sentence.
Why do we use wusste and wurde instead of the conversational past (Perfekt) tense?
Both wissen (to know) and werden (to become) are usually used in their simple past (Präteritum) forms, wusste and wurde. While you could technically use the Perfekt tense (hat gewusst, ist geworden), the simple past flows much better and is the standard choice for these specific verbs, even in everyday spoken German.
Learn Der Minister wusste, dass die Mehrheit der armen Bürger wütend wurde and more in German
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free