📕 Lektion 17: Politik und Gesellschaft — Politics and Society

🎬 Video

1. 🎯 New Vocabulary

Politics and Democracy:

German	Pronunciation	English
die Wahl	[vaːl]	election
die Partei	[paʁˈtaɪ̯]	political party
die Demokratie	[demoˈkʁaːti̯]	democracy
abstimmen	[ˈapˌʃtɪmən]	to vote
das Wahlrecht	[ˈvaːlˌʁɛçt]	right to vote
die Bürgerinitiative	[ˈbʏʁɡɐɪnɪtsɪˌaːtɪvə]	citizens' initiative
der Wähler	[ˈvɛːlɐ]	voter
die Regierung	[ʁəˈɡɪʁʊŋ]	government
das Gesetz	[ɡəˈzɛt͡s]	law
die Mehrheit	[ˈmeːɐ̯haɪ̯t]	majority

The European Union and Equal Treatment:

German	Pronunciation	English
die Europäische Union (EU)	[ɔʏ̯ʁoˈpeːɪ̯ʃə uˈnjoːn]	European Union
der Vertrag	[fɛɐ̯ˈtʁaːk]	treaty / agreement
der Frieden	[ˈfʁiːdn̩]	peace
der Wohlstand	[ˈvoːlʃtant]	prosperity
das Grundrecht	[ˈɡʁʊntˌʁɛçt]	fundamental right
die Freizügigkeit	[ˈfʁaɪ̯ˌtsyːɡɪçkaɪ̯t]	freedom of movement
die Währung	[ˈvɛːʁʊŋ]	currency
die Gleichbehandlung	[ˈɡlaɪ̯çbəˌhaːndlʊŋ]	equal treatment
die Diskriminierung	[dɪsˌkʁɪmiˈniːʁʊŋ]	discrimination
die Benachteiligung	[bəˈnaːçtaɪ̯lɪɡʊŋ]	disadvantageous treatment
die Herkunft	[ˈhɛɐ̯kʊnft]	origin / background
sich beschweren	[zɪç bəˈʃveːʁən]	to file a complaint

2. 📖 Reading Passage

Germany is a democratic republic: every four years, citizens elect a new parliament, and the government usually emerges from the strongest parties. But democracy means more than just voting. Many people also get involved on a voluntary basis, for example in a citizens' initiative, bringing their ideas directly into the political debate.

Beyond national borders, many states also work closely together: the European Union (EU) is a community of 27 European countries. Its most important goals are peace on the continent, economic prosperity, and equal rights for all. The longer this cooperation lasts, the more closely the countries grow together — yet criticism never quite stops, whether about high costs or too many regulations. Despite all disagreements, however, one thing holds true: most people in Europe would no longer want to be without this shared path.

The EU brings citizens concrete advantages. They can travel without border controls and decide for themselves which EU country they want to live, study or work in. In 20 countries people also pay with the same currency, the euro. One particularly important fundamental right here is equal treatment: nobody may be treated worse than others because of their appearance, origin, religion, gender, a disability or their age.

So that this right truly applies in everyday life, Germany has passed its own law: the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG). It protects people from disadvantageous treatment — when looking for an apartment just as much as when applying for a job or at the workplace. Instead of quietly putting up with an injustice, those affected can contact a counselling centre and receive free advice there. After all, those who know their rights can also assert them.

Key vocabulary: - sich engagieren = to get involved - ehrenamtlich = on a voluntary basis - entstehen = to emerge / arise - nicht missen wollen = not want to do without - mit sich bringen = to bring with it / entail - erlassen = to pass (a law) - stillschweigend = silently - die Beratungsstelle = counselling centre - durchsetzen = to assert / enforce

In this lesson we learn three important structures that appear frequently in texts about politics and society:

First: trotz + Genitiv — despite...

The preposition trotz means "despite / in spite of" and is always followed by a noun in the Genitive case. With this structure we acknowledge a fact or event, but say the outcome did not change because of it — it is equivalent to a subordinate clause with obwohl (although):

trotz + Genitiv	Same meaning with obwohl
Trotz der hohen Kosten bleiben viele Länder in der EU.	Obwohl die Kosten hoch sind, bleiben viele Länder in der EU.
Trotz des Streits arbeiten die Parteien weiter zusammen.	Obwohl es Streit gibt, arbeiten die Parteien weiter zusammen.

Declension of the noun after trotz:

Gender	Genitiv	Example
der (masculine)	des + -(e)s	Trotz des Regens ging das Fest weiter.
die (feminine)	der	Trotz der Kälte war die Stimmung gut.
das (neuter)	des + -(e)s	Trotz des Verbots diskutierten die Menschen weiter.
Plural	der (+ umlaut where possible)	Trotz aller Kritik ist die Idee Europas beliebt.

💡 Note: in informal spoken German you sometimes hear "trotz dem Wetter" (dative), but the correct written form is the genitive: trotz des Wetters.

📖 For the full explanation of the genitive case: Genitiv page — and for more prepositions that take the genitive: Präpositionen mit Genitiv

Second: je … desto — the more..., the more...

This structure links two things that increase together: the more the first happens, the more the second happens. The subordinate clause starts with je + comparative and its verb goes to the end; after the comma, the main clause starts with desto or umso + comparative, with the conjugated verb immediately after it:

Part	Structure	Example
Subordinate clause	je + comparative + ... + verb at the end	Je länger die Zusammenarbeit besteht,
Main clause	desto / umso + comparative + ... + verb in position 2	desto enger wachsen die Länder zusammen.

Examples from this lesson's topics: - Je mehr Länder zusammenarbeiten, desto stärker wird die Union. (The more countries cooperate, the stronger the Union becomes.) - Je besser man seine Rechte kennt, desto selbstbewusster tritt man auf. (The better you know your rights, the more confidently you act.) - Je früher man sich beraten lässt, umso einfacher wird die Lösung. (The earlier you seek advice, the easier the solution becomes.)

⚠️ Common mistake: putting the verb of the je-clause in position 2. The verb of the je-clause goes to the end, while the verb of the desto-clause stays in position 2: - ❌ Je mehr Länder arbeiten zusammen, desto stärker wird die Union. - ✅ Je mehr Länder zusammenarbeiten, desto stärker wird die Union.

💡 umso is an exact alternative to desto and very common in spoken German.

📖 Full rule: see the je … desto / umso grammar page for more examples and interactive exercises.

Third: anstatt … zu — instead of doing...

When someone gives up one action and does something else instead, we use anstatt … zu + infinitive. The subject is the same in both parts, and zu is placed before the infinitive. If the sentence begins with anstatt … zu, a comma follows immediately, and the conjugated verb of the main clause takes position 2:

Anstatt sich zu ärgern, fragt Frau Demir einfach freundlich nach. (Instead of getting angry, Ms. Demir simply asks politely.)
Anstatt lange zu warten, rief er direkt die Beratungsstelle an. (Instead of waiting a long time, he called the counselling centre directly.)
Anstatt eine Benachteiligung einfach hinzunehmen, kann man sich beim Arbeitgeber beschweren. (Instead of simply accepting unfair treatment, you can complain to your employer.)

Important points: - With separable verbs, zu goes between the prefix and the stem: hin|nehmen → hinzunehmen, an|rufen → anzurufen. - anstatt can also be followed directly by a noun — in that case it takes the genitive, just like trotz: Anstatt des Autos nahmen sie die Bahn. (Instead of the car, they took the train.)

📖 For more examples and details: Infinitiv mit zu

4. 🏋️ Interactive Exercises

Exercise 1: Multiple Choice

#	Question	A	B	C
1	The citizens ___ a new government every four years.	wählen	wählte	gewählt
2	The law ___ by parliament.	wurde	ist	war
3	All citizens have the ___.	Wahlrecht	Wahllokal	Wählerverzeichnis
4	The citizens' initiative ___ by many people.	wurde	war	hat

✅ Solution: 1. B — wählen: they vote (present tense, plural subject) 2. A — wurde: passive voice with wurde 3. A — Wahlrecht: right to vote 4. A — wurde: passive voice

Exercise 2: Fill in the Blanks

#	Sentence	Answer
1	In Germany, ___ is very important.	Demokratie
2	The citizens must ___ on Sunday.	abstimmen
3	The ___ has passed new laws.	Regierung
4	The ___ forbids smoking in schools.	Gesetz
5	The ___ of parties decides on laws.	Mehrheit

✅ Solution: 1. Demokratie — democracy 2. abstimmen — citizens must vote on Sunday 3. Regierung — government 4. Gesetz — law 5. Mehrheit — majority

Exercise 3: Match

#	German	English
1	die Partei	law
2	der Wähler	right to vote
3	das Wahlrecht	political party
4	das Gesetz	voter
5	die Bürgerinitiative	citizens' initiative

✅ Solution: 1. c — political party 2. a — voter 3. d — right to vote 4. b — law 5. e — citizens' initiative

🔤 Genitiv 🔤 Prepositions with Genitive 🔤 Infinitiv mit zu 🔙 Back to B1