Breakdown of Wir müssen uns beschweren, sonst wird es nicht besser.
es
it
wir
we
nicht
not
müssen
to have to, must
werden
to become / to get (change of state)
besser
better
sonst
otherwise, or else
sich beschweren
to complain (make a complaint)
Questions & Answers about Wir müssen uns beschweren, sonst wird es nicht besser.
Why does the verb wird come immediately after sonst?
sonst is an adverbial connector, meaning it acts as the first element in the second clause. Because German strictly requires the conjugated verb to be in the second position, wird must come right after sonst, pushing the subject es to the third position.
Why do we need uns in the first half of the sentence?
The German verb for to complain is sich beschweren, which is a reflexive verb. It requires a reflexive pronoun that matches the subject to show who is doing the complaining. Since the subject is Wir, we use uns.
Why is beschweren at the very end of the first clause?
This is due to the modal verb müssen. In a standard main clause, the modal verb takes the second position and pushes the main action verb, which is beschweren here, to the very end in its infinitive dictionary form.
Does wird mean will or get in this sentence?
The verb werden can be used as a helper verb to build the future tense, but here it is functioning as the main verb meaning to become or to get. German frequently uses the present tense to talk about future events, so wird es nicht besser literally means it gets not better, which perfectly expresses the English it will not get better.
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