Breakdown of Der Tierarzt erklärte, der Zustand war sehr kritisch.
sein
to be
sehr
very
erklären
to explain
der Zustand
the condition / the state
Questions & Answers about Der Tierarzt erklärte, der Zustand war sehr kritisch.
Shouldn't this sentence use Konjunktiv I because it is reported speech?
In formal written German, yes! You would typically see the Konjunktiv I used here to indicate reported speech (e.g., Der Tierarzt erklärte, der Zustand sei sehr kritisch gewesen). However, in everyday or spoken German, native speakers frequently skip the Konjunktiv and just use the regular indicative past tense (war), as seen in this sentence.
Why doesn't the verb war go to the end of the second clause?
When you report what someone said but leave out the conjunction dass (that), the second half of the sentence acts like a normal main clause. This means the conjugated verb stays in the second position (... der Zustand war sehr kritisch). If you included dass, the verb would be forced to the end: ... dass der Zustand sehr kritisch war.
Why is there a comma after erklärte if there is no connecting word like dass?
Unlike English, which often merges the clauses without a comma (like "The vet explained the condition was..."), German punctuation rules are stricter. You must always use a comma to separate the reporting clause (Der Tierarzt erklärte) from the reported clause (der Zustand war sehr kritisch), even when the conjunction is dropped.