Breakdown of Diese Masche ist sehr bekannt, aber er leugnet alles.
sein
to be
er
he
sehr
very
aber
but
dieser
this / that (fem.: diese, neut.: dieses)
alles
everything
bekannt
known
leugnen
to deny
die Masche
the trick (scam, ploy)
Questions & Answers about Diese Masche ist sehr bekannt, aber er leugnet alles.
What does Masche mean here, and does it have another meaning?
Die Masche literally means a "stitch" (like in knitting). In everyday German, however, it is widely used as a colloquial term for a "trick," "scam," or a specific "ploy" that a person repeatedly uses to get their way.
Why is the verb leugnet not immediately after aber?
The word aber is a coordinating conjunction, which means it occupies "position zero" in the sentence. It doesn't count towards the verb position. In the second clause, the subject er takes position 1, so the conjugated verb leugnet correctly lands in position 2.
How could we rewrite the second half of this sentence using the subjective wollen taught in this lesson?
The subjective use of wollen expresses a claim the subject makes about themselves, which the speaker might doubt. Instead of saying aber er leugnet alles (but he denies everything), you could rephrase it to fit this lesson as aber er will nichts gewusst haben (but he claims to have known nothing) or aber er will nichts gemacht haben (but he claims to have done nothing).
Is there a difference between leugnen and verneinen, since both can mean "to deny"?
Yes, there is a clear difference. Leugnen means to actively deny an accusation, a hard fact, or guilt, which fits perfectly here since he is denying involvement in a scam. Verneinen simply means to say "no" to a question or to answer negatively.
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