Reading · A2 · Text 7
Haiti
Der neue Staat hatte es schwer.
The new state had a difficult time.
Das Land hatte Gewaltherrscher und war einige Jahre lang auch geteilt.
The country had tyrants and was also divided for several years.
An Frankreich musste es lange Zeit Geld zahlen.
It had to pay money to France for a long time.
Auch heute noch ist die Demokratie in Haiti schwach.
Even today, democracy in Haiti is weak.
Die Menschen müssen immer wieder Angst vor einem neuen Gewaltherrscher haben.
The people again and again have to fear a new tyrant.
5 words above A2
Grammar in this text
Modal verb + infinitive
An Frankreich musste es lange Zeit Geld zahlen.
The modal verb 'musste' (past tense of 'müssen') is conjugated and stands in second position, while the main verb 'zahlen' appears as an infinitive at the end of the sentence.
State passive (Zustandspassiv) with 'sein' + past participle
Das Land hatte Gewaltherrscher und war einige Jahre lang auch geteilt.
A form of 'sein' (here 'war') followed by a past participle ('geteilt') describes a resulting state, not an action. This is the state passive.
Idiom 'es schwer haben'
Der neue Staat hatte es schwer.
This is a fixed expression meaning 'to have a difficult time'. The pronoun 'es' is not a direct object but part of the idiom. Recognize it by the combination of 'haben' + 'es' + an adjective/adverb.
Prepositional object 'Angst haben vor' + Dative
Die Menschen müssen immer wieder Angst vor einem neuen Gewaltherrscher haben.
The verb phrase 'Angst haben' takes the preposition 'vor' (here meaning 'of/from') and the Dative case. In the example, 'einem neuen Gewaltherrscher' is Dative because of 'vor'.
Keep going
Text from Haiti — Klexikon, used under CC BY-SA 4.0. See sources.
Translation, glossary and grammar notes are machine-generated and inherit the same licence.