Breakdown of Allerdings droht die Einigung mit dem Arbeitgeber zu scheitern.
mit
with
zu
to (infinitive marker)
allerdings
however / admittedly (mind you)
drohen
to threaten (with consequences or impending danger)
scheitern
to fail (projects, plans, endeavors)
die Einigung
the agreement (consensus or settlement)
der Arbeitgeber
the employer
Questions & Answers about Allerdings droht die Einigung mit dem Arbeitgeber zu scheitern.
Why is drohen used here if no one is actually making a threat?
In this structure (drohen + zu + infinitive), drohen acts similarly to a modal verb to express an imminent negative event or a risk. It means something is 'at risk of' happening, much like saying 'it threatens to rain' in English.
The current lesson also covers versprechen for imminent events. Could we use that here instead?
Grammatically, yes, but it would change the tone. While drohen sets up an expected negative outcome, versprechen sets up a positive one. Because scheitern means 'to fail', saying verspricht zu scheitern (promises to fail) would sound highly sarcastic.
Is Allerdings acting as a conjunction meaning 'However' here? I've seen it mean 'Absolutely!'.
Yes! Allerdings can mean an emphatic 'Absolutely!' in casual conversation, or 'Admittedly' in other contexts. But when placed at the beginning of a statement like this, it is an adverb used to mean 'However' or 'Mind you'.
Just to review, why does the subject die Einigung come after the verb droht?
This is a classic German word order rule: the conjugated verb must stay in the second position. Because the adverb Allerdings takes up the first position, the verb droht comes next, pushing the subject die Einigung right after it.
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