Breakdown of Die Polizei sagte, er habe den Wachmann bedroht, aber kein Schuss sei gefallen.
sein
to be
er
he
haben
to have
aber
but
kein
no, not any
sagen
to say
die Polizei
the police
der Wachmann
the security guard
fallen
to fall
bedrohen
to threaten
der Schuss
the shot
Questions & Answers about Die Polizei sagte, er habe den Wachmann bedroht, aber kein Schuss sei gefallen.
Why do we use habe in the first half but sei in the second half?
Both are forming the past tense of Konjunktiv I for reported speech. You use habe for verbs that normally take haben in the perfect tense (like bedrohen), and sei for verbs that take sein, which are usually verbs of motion or change of state (like fallen).
The English translation says "had been fired", which is passive. Why isn't the German sentence passive?
Why are habe and sei in the second position of their clauses? Shouldn't reported speech put the verb at the end?
You only put the conjugated verb at the end if you use the word dass (that). When you drop dass in reported speech, the clause goes back to normal main clause word order. If you included it, the first part would be: dass er den Wachmann bedroht habe.
Does the past tense sagte change how we form the reported speech?
No. Unlike English, where "has threatened" shifts to "had threatened" after a past tense verb like "said", German Konjunktiv I only cares about the original speaker's tense. The police originally used a past tense (like er hat bedroht), so we use the past Konjunktiv I (er habe bedroht) no matter what tense the introductory verb is in.
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