Breakdown of Der Sprecher versichert, jeder Verbraucher werde eine Entschädigung bekommen.
ein
a, an (eine)
jeder
everyone / each
werden
will (future auxiliary)
bekommen
to receive / to get (be given)
der Sprecher
the spokesperson
versichern
to assure
der Verbraucher
the consumer
die Entschädigung
the compensation
Questions & Answers about Der Sprecher versichert, jeder Verbraucher werde eine Entschädigung bekommen.
Why is it werde here instead of wird?
Werde is the Konjunktiv I (Present Subjunctive) form of werden for the third-person singular. It is used here because the sentence is in reported speech (indirekte Rede). The spokesperson is reporting a claim, so German uses this special verb form to distance the speaker and show that these are someone else's words.
Where is the word dass (that) in this sentence? Can we just leave it out?
Yes! In reported speech, you can often drop the word dass. When you do this, the reported clause uses normal main-clause word order, which is why werde is in the second position. If you included dass, the conjugated verb would be pushed to the very end: ... dass jeder Verbraucher eine Entschädigung bekommen werde.
How does werde ... bekommen translate to 'will receive'? Is it future tense?
Exactly. In regular speech, the future tense is formed with the helping verb werden plus an infinitive (like er wird bekommen). To put this into reported speech, you simply change the helping verb wird into its Konjunktiv I form werde, and keep the infinitive bekommen at the end of the sentence.
Why does jeder Verbraucher end in -er here?
Verbraucher (consumer) is a masculine noun acting as the subject of the reported clause, so it must be in the nominative case. The word jeder (every) has to match this, so it takes the masculine nominative ending -er.
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