Breakdown of Mein Kommilitone behauptet, in der Mensa seien auch Geister.
sein
to be
auch
also, too
in
in
mein
my
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
behaupten
to claim
der Geist
the ghost
der Kommilitone
the fellow student
die Mensa
the cafeteria
Questions & Answers about Mein Kommilitone behauptet, in der Mensa seien auch Geister.
Why is the verb seien used here instead of sind?
seien is the Konjunktiv I (Present Subjunctive) form of sein for plural nouns, referring here to the ghosts (Geister). It is used for reported speech because the speaker is just reporting what the student claims, without confirming whether it is actually true.
Why isn't the verb at the end of the second clause?
You can absolutely use dass, which would push the verb to the end: behauptet, dass in der Mensa auch Geister seien. However, in German reported speech, it is very common to drop dass. When you do this, the reported clause acts like a normal main clause, and the verb (seien) takes the second position right after the phrase in der Mensa.
What exactly is a Kommilitone?
A Kommilitone is specifically a fellow university student or a classmate at a higher education institution. If you were talking about a high school or primary school classmate, you would use the word Mitschüler instead.
Why is it in der Mensa and not in die Mensa?
The preposition in is a two-way preposition. Because the ghosts are simply located inside the cafeteria, this answers the question 'where?' rather than indicating movement to a destination. Therefore, we use the dative case. Mensa is a feminine noun, so its dative article is der.
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