Breakdown of Der Präsident sagte, wir sollen das Geld zur Verfügung stellen.
das Geld
the money
wir
we
sagen
to say
zur
to the (zu + der)
sollen
should / ought to
stellen
to place / to put (upright)
der Präsident
the president
die Verfügung
the disposal
Questions & Answers about Der Präsident sagte, wir sollen das Geld zur Verfügung stellen.
Why do we use stellen here instead of stehen?
This is a classic noun-verb support construction (Funktionsverbgefüge). stellen is the transitive, active version meaning 'to make something available' or 'to provide' it. Since 'we' are actively providing the money, we use stellen. Its partner stehen is the intransitive, passive-state version meaning 'to be available'. If the sentence was just about the money's status, it would be: Das Geld steht zur Verfügung (The money is available).
Why is there a comma after sagte but no dass (that) to introduce the indirect speech?
In German indirect speech, you can drop the conjunction dass. When you do this, it is called an unintroduced subordinate clause, and the word order changes. Instead of kicking the conjugated verb to the very end of the sentence, the clause uses normal main clause word order: wir sollen... instead of ...dass wir das Geld zur Verfügung stellen sollen.
Why is the verb sollen used here instead of sollten?
Indirect speech technically uses Subjunctive I (Konjunktiv I). For the pronoun wir, the Subjunctive I form is sollen, which looks exactly like the normal present tense indicative form. To avoid confusion, Germans often swap to the Subjunctive II form (sollten) so it is clearly indirect speech. However, leaving it as sollen is grammatically correct and very common when relaying a direct command.
What case does the object of zur Verfügung stellen take?
It takes the accusative case. You can figure this out by looking at the core verb stellen, which is transitive and requires a direct object (here, das Geld). The prepositional part of the phrase, zur Verfügung, is fixed with the dative because it contracts zu + der, but the actual thing you are making available will always be in the accusative.
Learn Der Präsident sagte, wir sollen das Geld zur Verfügung stellen and more in German
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free