Word
Die Verhandlungen mit der Gewerkschaft drohen zu scheitern.
Meaning
The negotiations with the labor union threaten to fail.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Die Verhandlungen mit der Gewerkschaft drohen zu scheitern.
mit
with
zu
to (infinitive marker)
die Verhandlung
the negotiation
die Gewerkschaft
the labor union
Questions & Answers about Die Verhandlungen mit der Gewerkschaft drohen zu scheitern.
How is drohen being used here if nobody is making a deliberate threat?
Here, drohen acts as a subject-raising verb (Modalisierungsverb) combined with zu and an infinitive (zu scheitern). Instead of expressing a deliberate threat from a person, it indicates that a negative event is imminent or highly likely. In English, it translates well to 'are in danger of' or 'are at risk of'.
Why is Die Verhandlungen the grammatical subject of drohen?
This is how subject-raising verbs work. The logical subject of the main action (scheitern) 'raises' to become the subject of the modifying verb (drohen). So, instead of a clunky phrase like 'It threatens that the negotiations fail', German simply makes the negotiations the subject of the entire sentence.
Why is the article der used before Gewerkschaft if it is a feminine noun (die Gewerkschaft)?
The preposition mit always requires the dative case. In the dative case, the feminine definite article die changes to der.
Could we use versprechen instead of drohen in this grammatical structure?