Word
Der Ladendieb scheint eine Tasche zu stehlen.
Meaning
The shoplifter seems to be stealing a bag.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Der Ladendieb scheint eine Tasche zu stehlen.
ein
a, an (eine)
die Tasche
the bag
stehlen
to steal
zu
to (infinitive marker)
Questions & Answers about Der Ladendieb scheint eine Tasche zu stehlen.
How does the scheinen ... zu construction work in this specific sentence?
Just like in English, German uses the conjugated verb scheint (seems) followed later by zu (to) and the infinitive stehlen (steal). Notice the word order: scheint takes the normal second position, while the whole infinitive phrase (eine Tasche zu stehlen) is pushed to the very end of the sentence.
The translation says "seems to be stealing", but the German is just zu stehlen. Why is there no "be" verb?
German does not have a continuous or progressive tense (like "is doing" or "to be doing"). The simple infinitive zu stehlen naturally covers both "to steal" and "to be stealing". You just rely on context to show it is happening right now.
Is scheinen a modal verb? It acts a lot like one here.
It is not a true modal verb (like müssen or können), but it acts similarly by modifying another verb. The key difference is that true modal verbs take a bare infinitive (for example, Der Dieb will stehlen), whereas scheinen always requires the word zu before the infinitive (Der Dieb scheint zu stehlen).
How do I know the gender of the compound noun Ladendieb?