Reading · B1 · Text 22

Politiker

82 words1 min read98% known at B1

Viele Leute sind gegenüber Politikern misstrauisch.
Many people are distrustful of politicians.
Sie vermuten, dass Politiker lügen, um jedem sagen zu können, was er gern hören will.
They suspect that politicians lie in order to tell everyone what they want to hear.
Politiker nutzen angeblich die Politik, um selbst reich zu werden, oder sie sind dumm und hören nicht auf das Volk.
Politicians allegedly use politics to become rich themselves, or they are stupid and do not listen to the people.
Das große Problem für Politiker hingegen ist, dass sie es nicht allen recht machen können.
The big problem for politicians, on the other hand, is that they cannot please everyone.
Wenn eine Politikerin für den Bau eines neuen Schwimmbades ist, freut das alle Leute, die das auch wollen.
If a female politician is in favor of building a new swimming pool, that pleases all the people who also want that.
Alle anderen sind dann aber gegen die Politikerin.
But then everyone else is against the female politician.

1 words above B1

misstrauisch

distrustful, suspicious distrustful, suspicious; distrustfully, suspiciously C1

Grammar in this text

Subordinate clause with 'dass' (verb-final)

Sie vermuten, dass Politiker lügen, um jedem sagen zu können, was er gern hören will.

The conjunction 'dass' introduces a subordinate clause where the finite verb moves to the end. This is a key feature of German word order.

Infinitive clause with 'um ... zu'

um jedem sagen zu können, was er gern hören will

The structure 'um ... zu' expresses purpose ('in order to'). The infinitive with 'zu' appears at the end of the clause, and if there is a modal verb, it follows the infinitive.

Relative clause with 'was'

was er gern hören will

The relative pronoun 'was' refers to an indefinite antecedent (here: 'jeden' implied) and introduces a relative clause with verb-final order.

Prepositional phrase with 'gegen' + accusative

gegen die Politikerin

The preposition 'gegen' (against) takes the accusative case. Here, 'die Politikerin' is in the accusative, showing the object of opposition.

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Same text, graded forA2 version

Text from Politiker — Klexikon, used under CC BY-SA 4.0. See sources.

Translation, glossary and grammar notes are machine-generated and inherit the same licence.