Breakdown of Man glaubt, die virtuelle Kommunikation werde die alte Welt ersetzen.
alt
old
glauben
to believe
man
one / you (impersonal)
werden
will (future auxiliary)
die Welt
the world
ersetzen
to replace
virtuell
virtual
die Kommunikation
the communication
Questions & Answers about Man glaubt, die virtuelle Kommunikation werde die alte Welt ersetzen.
Why is the verb werde used here instead of the normal future tense wird?
Because this is reported speech. The phrase Man glaubt introduces a claim or belief. To show that we are reporting this, we use the Konjunktiv I mood. For the third person singular, the Konjunktiv I form of werden is werde.
How do we form the future tense in Konjunktiv I?
It follows the exact same structure as the standard future tense, but the helping verb werden is conjugated in Konjunktiv I. In this sentence, werde pairs with the infinitive ersetzen at the end of the clause to mean 'will replace'.
Why is there no dass (that) after the comma?
In German reported speech, you can drop the conjunction dass. When you do this, the reported clause uses normal main clause word order, putting the conjugated verb (werde) in the second position. If we included dass, the verb would move to the end: Man glaubt, dass die virtuelle Kommunikation die alte Welt ersetzen werde.
Could we use the Konjunktiv II form würde here instead?
Not in standard written German. The rule for reported speech is to use Konjunktiv II only as a backup when the Konjunktiv I form looks identical to the normal indicative (present tense) form. Because werde is clearly distinct from the indicative wird, we must use werde.
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