Breakdown of Sie meinten, sie müssten den Ausbau der Bahn fördern.
sie
they
müssen
to have to, must
meinen
to mean (to have an opinion, intend)
die Bahn
the railway (the rail service)
Questions & Answers about Sie meinten, sie müssten den Ausbau der Bahn fördern.
Why is the Konjunktiv II form müssten used here instead of Konjunktiv I?
This is the replacement rule in action! In reported speech, we normally use Konjunktiv I. But for the pronoun sie (they), the Konjunktiv I form of müssen is simply müssen, which looks exactly like the normal present indicative tense. To make it obvious that this is reported speech rather than a stated fact, we swap it out for the Konjunktiv II form müssten.
Why is meinten translated as 'thought' instead of 'meant'?
While meinen can mean 'to mean' (as in what someone intended to say), it is very frequently used to express an opinion, translating closer to 'to think', 'to believe', or 'to state'. When used as a reporting verb, it introduces someone's viewpoint. If you want to say what a specific word or symbol signifies, you would use bedeuten instead.
Why isn't the conjunction dass (that) used after meinten?
In German reported speech, you can frequently drop dass. When you omit it, the reported clause uses standard main-clause word order, keeping the conjugated verb (müssten) in the second position. If you chose to include dass, the conjugated verb would be forced to the very end: Sie meinten, dass sie den Ausbau der Bahn fördern müssten.
Could we combine Ausbau and Bahn into a single compound noun instead of using the genitive?