Breakdown of Es ist unglaublich, dass der Außerirdische hier leben soll.
sein
to be
es
it
hier
here
sollen
should / ought to
dass
that
leben
to live/reside (in a place)
unglaublich
unbelievable
der Außerirdische
the alien
Questions & Answers about Es ist unglaublich, dass der Außerirdische hier leben soll.
Why is soll translated as "is said to" here instead of "should"?
In German, the modal verb sollen has a special subjective use. It can express that something is a rumor, hearsay, or a claim made by someone else. Because of this, dass der Außerirdische hier leben soll means that the alien is supposed to live here or is said to live here, not that the alien has a duty or obligation to live here!
Why does the noun Außerirdische end in -e?
The word Außerirdische is an adjectival noun, which means it is an adjective that has been turned into a capitalized noun. Because of this, it takes normal adjective endings instead of fixed noun endings. Since it follows the definite article der in the nominative case, it takes the weak adjective ending -e.
How would the ending of Außerirdische change if we said "an alien" instead of "the alien"?
If you used the indefinite article ein instead of the definite article der, the adjective ending would have to change to clearly show the masculine gender of the noun. It would become ein Außerirdischer.
Why is soll placed after leben at the very end of the sentence?
The conjunction dass introduces a subordinate clause, which always forces the conjugated verb to the very end of its clause. In this sentence, soll is the conjugated verb and leben is the infinitive, so soll gets pushed all the way to the end, right after leben.
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