Breakdown of Der Pirat, dessen Name unbekannt ist, soll den Kaufmann angegriffen haben.
sein
to be
haben
to have
der Name
the name
sollen
should / ought to
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
dessen
whose (m/n)
unbekannt
unknown
angreifen
to attack
der Pirat
the pirate
der Kaufmann
the merchant
Questions & Answers about Der Pirat, dessen Name unbekannt ist, soll den Kaufmann angegriffen haben.
How does soll ... angegriffen haben express a past rumor?
This is the subjective use of the modal verb sollen, which translates to 'is said to' or 'supposedly'. To show that this hearsay refers to an event in the past, it is paired with the Perfekt Infinitive. The Perfekt Infinitive is formed using the past participle (angegriffen) plus the infinitive of the helper verb (haben).
Why do we use dessen in the relative clause?
dessen is the genitive relative pronoun for masculine and neuter nouns. Here, it refers back to the masculine noun Der Pirat. It translates to 'whose' in English, showing possession: it is the pirate's name that is unknown.
Why does the verb soll appear right after the comma?
The main clause is Der Pirat soll den Kaufmann angegriffen haben. The relative clause (dessen Name unbekannt ist) is simply inserted right after the subject it describes. Once the relative clause ends, the main clause resumes. Since the subject (Der Pirat) already took up the first position of the main clause, the conjugated verb (soll) must take the second position immediately after the interruption to maintain the verb-second rule.
Why is the ge- prefix in the middle of the word angegriffen?
The verb for 'to attack' is angreifen, which is a separable verb (an + greifen). When forming the past participle of a separable verb, the -ge- is sandwiched between the separable prefix (an-) and the verb stem, resulting in angegriffen.
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