Breakdown of Die Polizei sagt, dass sie die Demonstration hat genehmigen wollen.
sie
she
haben
to have
sagen
to say
wollen
to want
dass
that
die Polizei
the police
die Demonstration
the demonstration
genehmigen
to approve
Questions & Answers about Die Polizei sagt, dass sie die Demonstration hat genehmigen wollen.
Why is hat placed before genehmigen wollen rather than at the very end of the sentence?
This is the main exception to the verb-at-the-end rule for subordinate clauses! Usually, a dass clause pushes the conjugated verb to the very end. But when a sentence ends with two infinitives (genehmigen and wollen), the conjugated helper verb (hat) jumps right in front of the verb cluster instead.
Wait, shouldn't the past participle of wollen be gewollt in the perfect tense?
Normally, yes. But when a modal verb like wollen is paired with another action verb in the perfect tense, it drops its standard past participle form and uses its infinitive form instead. This creates the double infinitive (genehmigen wollen).
Why does the English translation say 'they' when the German sentence uses sie as a singular pronoun for die Polizei?
In German, die Polizei is a singular feminine noun, so it takes the singular pronoun sie. Notice that the first verb, sagt, is also singular. In English, we treat the word 'police' as a plural group, which is why the translation says 'they' and 'say'.
Could I just use the simple past tense of wollen here instead?
Yes, and it is actually much more common in everyday speech! Most Germans would say dass sie die Demonstration genehmigen wollte to avoid the complex double infinitive. However, the perfect tense structure shown here is grammatically correct and important to recognize in written or formal German.
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