German Language Stack Exchange is a bilingual question and answer site for speakers of all levels who want to share and increase their knowledge of the German language. It's 100% free, no registration required.
Sign up to join this community
Das Coronavirus geht wohl an kaum jemandem spurlos vorbei - so oder so. Eine neue Studie legt nun allerdings nahe, dass selbst diejenigen, die eine Infektion überstanden haben und danach als offiziell genesen gelten, eines oft nicht sind: wirklich gesund.
What's the meaning of "eines oft nicht sind: wirklich gesund"? What's the subject word for 'sind'?
The strategy I would suggest is the following: If the finite verb is in final position, go left until you find the beginning of the sentence, which must be a subordinating conjunction or a relative pronoun or similar, i.e. some word that can introduce a subordinate clause.
dass selbst diejenigen, die eine Infektion überstanden haben und danach als offiziell genesen gelten, eines oft nicht sind
Then remove any extraneous parts, which in this case includes a long relative clause that I have marked in italics.
dass die(jenigen) eines nicht sind
that they one thing not are
that there's one thing they are not
This makes it easy to see that the subject is die(jenigen).
The sentence at the bottom of it is:
Sie sind nicht wirklich gesund.
The sie refers to dienjenigen, i.e. to those who recovered from Covid-19.
The sentence in its entirety is syntactically correct but of course rather twisted, so I am not surprised you find it difficult. Translated it would be:
A new study suggests that even those who recovered from infection and are officially considered recovered often in fact are one thing not: truly healthy.
The sentence sounds in German as manneristic as in English. Or in order to keep up the style: The sentence sounds in both languages nothing but one: manneristic.
subject is "diejenigen"
diejenigen [die eine Infektion überstanden haben und danach als offiziell genesen gelten] eines oft nicht sind: wirklich gesund.
