Breakdown of Die Bedürfnisse der Bürger werden oft ignoriert.
oft
often
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
werden
to be (passive auxiliary + past participle)
der Bürger
the citizen
ignorieren
to ignore
das Bedürfnis
the need
Questions & Answers about Die Bedürfnisse der Bürger werden oft ignoriert.
How does the suffix in Bedürfnisse follow the rule for -nis nouns?
Why does the word Bürger use the article der here if it means "the citizens" in plural?
In this sentence, der Bürger is in the genitive case, which translates to "of the citizens". While der is the masculine singular nominative article, it is also the plural genitive article for all genders. The noun Bürger itself does not change its ending in the plural.
Why do we use werden instead of sind to say "are ignored"?
The sentence uses the dynamic passive voice, which focuses on the action of ignoring as it happens. In German, this is formed using werden plus the past participle (ignoriert). If you used sind, it would be the statal passive, focusing merely on the resulting state rather than the ongoing action.
What verb is Bedürfnisse derived from?
It comes from the verb bedürfen, which means "to require" or "to need". By adding the suffix -nis, German turns the verb into an abstract noun representing the concept of a need.
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