Learn German: Der Experte sagt, digitale Kommunikation werde den Alltag erleichtern. - The expert says digital communication will make everyday life easier.

This sentence uses reported speech. To show that we are merely reporting the expert's claim rather than stating it as our own fact, German uses the Konjunktiv I mood. For the third-person singular of werden, the Konjunktiv I form is werde, while the standard indicative form is wird.

Why is the conjugated verb werde in the second position? Doesn't reported speech usually push the verb to the end?

If you use the conjunction dass (that), the verb goes to the end: ... dass digitale Kommunikation den Alltag erleichtern werde. However, when you omit dass in reported speech, the clause takes on standard main-clause word order, keeping the conjugated verb (werde) in position 2.

How do we know this is the future tense and not the passive voice?

Both future tense and passive voice use the helping verb werden. The difference is found at the end of the clause: the future tense pairs werden with an infinitive (erleichtern), while the passive voice pairs it with a past participle (like erleichtert). Since we see the infinitive here, it translates to the future phrase 'will make easier'.

Could we use würde instead of werde in this sentence?