Breakdown of Meiner Meinung nach setzen die Kandidaten dieses Versprechen niemals um.
dieser
this / that (fem.: diese, neut.: dieses)
meiner Meinung nach
in my opinion
niemals
never (emphatic)
der Kandidat
the candidate
das Versprechen
the promise
umsetzen
to implement
Questions & Answers about Meiner Meinung nach setzen die Kandidaten dieses Versprechen niemals um.
How would I turn this sentence into reported speech to say 'He claimed that in his opinion, the candidates would never implement this promise'?
To use reported speech, you normally use Konjunktiv I. However, the Konjunktiv I form for die Kandidaten (3rd person plural) is setzen, which is identical to the regular present tense. To avoid confusion, the replacement rule (Ersatzform) kicks in: you substitute it with Konjunktiv II (setzten) or, much more commonly, würden + infinitive. So it becomes: Er behauptete, seiner Meinung nach würden die Kandidaten dieses Versprechen niemals umsetzen.
Why does nach come at the end of the phrase Meiner Meinung nach?
While nach is usually a preposition that comes before a noun (like nach dem Unterricht), in this specific phrase it acts as a postposition. This means it comes after the noun phrase it modifies. It still triggers the dative case, which gives us the feminine dative form meiner Meinung.
What is the base verb here, and why is um at the very end of the sentence?
The base verb is umsetzen, which means to implement, realize, or put into practice. Because it is a separable verb, the conjugated part (setzen) takes the second position in this main clause, and the prefix (um) gets pushed to the very end.
The English translation says 'will never implement', but isn't setzen in the present tense?
Yes, setzen ... um is in the present tense. German commonly uses the present tense to talk about the future, especially when the context makes it clear that the event hasn't happened yet. Using the actual future tense with werden (werden dieses Versprechen niemals umsetzen) is grammatically correct but less common in everyday speech.
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