Breakdown of Der Lehrer fehlt. Stattdessen kontrolliert die Vertretung die Anwesenheit.
der Lehrer
the teacher
fehlen
to be missing
stattdessen
instead
kontrollieren
to inspect
die Vertretung
the substitute
die Anwesenheit
the attendance
Questions & Answers about Der Lehrer fehlt. Stattdessen kontrolliert die Vertretung die Anwesenheit.
Why is the verb kontrolliert placed right after stattdessen?
Because stattdessen (instead) is an adverbial connector, not a coordinating conjunction like und or aber. When an adverbial connector starts a clause, it takes up the first position. To maintain standard German V2 word order (verb in the second position), the conjugated verb kontrolliert must come immediately after it.
If I combine these into a single sentence, do I need to send the verb to the end?
No, the word order stays exactly the same! You can join them with a comma or semicolon: Der Lehrer fehlt, stattdessen kontrolliert die Vertretung die Anwesenheit. Because stattdessen is an adverb, it still takes position 1 in its own clause, keeping the verb in position 2. To send the verb to the end, you would have to use the subordinating conjunction statt dass (instead of).
Is kontrolliert a false friend here? It sounds like "controls".
Yes, it is a classic false friend. In German, kontrollieren usually means "to check," "to verify," or "to inspect," rather than "to command" or "to have power over." Here, die Anwesenheit kontrollieren simply means "to check the attendance."
I usually see fehlen used for missing objects. Is it standard to use it for people?
Absolutely. In school and work contexts, fehlen is the most natural, everyday verb to say someone is "absent," "missing," or "off sick today."
Why is the substitute called die Vertretung? Doesn't that mean "representation"?
Literally, yes. It comes from the verb vertreten (to represent / to stand in for). In everyday German, die Vertretung is used to mean both the abstract concept of "substitution" and the actual person doing the substituting (the substitute teacher or cover staff).
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