Breakdown of Der Sprecher sagt, kein anderes Gerät werde explodieren.
kein
no, not any
sagen
to say
andere
other, different
das Gerät
the machine / the equipment
werden
will (future auxiliary)
der Sprecher
the spokesperson
explodieren
to explode
Questions & Answers about Der Sprecher sagt, kein anderes Gerät werde explodieren.
Why does the sentence use werde instead of wird?
werde is the Present Subjunctive (Konjunktiv I) form of werden for the third-person singular. In German, this form is used to indicate reported speech. It signals that we are just repeating what the spokesperson said, maintaining a neutral distance. If this were stated as a direct, confirmed fact rather than a report, it would be wird.
If this is a reported clause, shouldn't the conjugated verb werde go at the very end?
It would go at the end if we used the connecting word dass (that), like this: ... dass kein anderes Gerät explodieren werde. However, in German you can often drop dass in reported speech. When you do, the reported sentence acts like a main clause, so the conjugated verb (werde) stays in the second position.
Why does the adjective anderes end in -es?
Gerät is a neuter noun (das Gerät) and acts as the subject here (nominative case). Because the negative article kein has no ending in the neuter nominative to show the gender, the adjective modifying it has to do the heavy lifting and take the strong ending -es.
How do we know this is talking about the future?
The combination of the helping verb werden (here in its Konjunktiv I form, werde) and the infinitive verb at the end of the sentence (explodieren) forms the German future tense. Literally, it translates to "would become explode," which means "will explode."
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