Breakdown of Er betont, der Verbraucher müsse nicht auf die Entschädigung warten.
er
he
nicht
not
müssen
to have to, must
warten auf
to wait for
Questions & Answers about Er betont, der Verbraucher müsse nicht auf die Entschädigung warten.
Why do we use müsse here instead of the normal form muss?
müsse is the Konjunktiv I (Present Subjunctive) form of müssen. We use this form for reported speech to show that we are repeating a claim or statement. Here, we are reporting what he emphasizes.
Why is there no word for "that" (dass) after betont, and why isn't müsse at the end of the sentence?
In reported speech, you can often leave out dass. When you drop dass, the reported clause behaves like a regular main clause. This means the conjugated verb (müsse) takes the second position rather than being pushed to the very end of the sentence.
müssen usually means "must." Why does müsse nicht mean "does not have to" rather than "must not"?
In German, nicht müssen simply means "not to have to" or "not to need to". If the sentence meant "must not" in the sense of being forbidden to wait, it would use the verb dürfen, making it der Verbraucher dürfe nicht.
Why do we use auf die before Entschädigung?