Breakdown of Der Täter soll den Zeugen umgebracht haben.
haben
to have
der Zeuge
the witness
der Täter
the perpetrator, the culprit
umbringen
to kill (do away with)
Questions & Answers about Der Täter soll den Zeugen umgebracht haben.
Why is soll translated as 'is said to' instead of 'should'?
In B2 German, modal verbs often take on a subjective meaning to express hearsay or a claim made by others. Here, soll means that the public or authorities claim this happened, translating to 'is said to' or 'is supposed to'. If it meant 'should', the sentence would bizarrely imply the perpetrator has an obligation to kill the witness!
How does the sentence show that the killing happened in the past?
The time shift is handled by the perfect infinitive at the end of the sentence: umgebracht haben (to have killed). The modal verb soll remains in the present tense because the rumor or claim exists right now, but the perfect infinitive shows that the action of killing is firmly in the past.
Why does den Zeugen end in an '-n'? Isn't the singular word just der Zeuge?
Yes, the basic dictionary word is der Zeuge. However, it belongs to a group of masculine nouns that take an extra -n or -en in all cases except the nominative subject. This grammar rule is called n-declension (or weak nouns). Since the witness is the direct object (accusative) in this sentence, der Zeuge becomes den Zeugen.
Why are both parts of the past action (umgebracht and haben) grouped together at the very end?