Deutschland trägt eine Menge zur Europäischen Union bei.
Germany contributes a lot to the European Union.38.2 da + preposition
The preposition in prepositional verbs is often found in a form beginning da-: daran,
darauf, daraus, dafür, darin, damit, danach, davon, davor, darüber, darum,
dazu, etc.The preposition is preceded by da- or dar- (see 50.6) when:(a) the prepositional verb is completed by a clause:Sie hat mich davor gewarnt, dass die Preise hier höher sind.
Dass die Preise hier höher sind, davor hat sie mich gewarnt.
She warned me that the prices here are higher. See 42.3e (p. 114) for this construction; see also 18.2–3 (pp. 24–5), 19.4–5 (pp. 27–8)
and 50.6 (p. 131).(b) the prepositional verb refers back to the meaning of a previous clause:Wir brauchen einen Urlaub. Du hast mich davon überzeugt.
We need a holiday. You’ve convinced me of it.39 The subjunctive
39.1 Overview
(a) German has two subjunctive forms of the verb, called Subjunctive I and Subjunctive
II. They are used to describe actions or states which might happen or which are reported
to have happened.(b) The subjunctive forms are used in the following contexts:Subjunctive I is used most often in reported speech (39.6 and 85 ).Subjunctive II is used in contexts where there is a suggestion that the event described by
the verb may not or did not happen. Subjunctive II can also substitute for Subjunctive
I in reported speech (85.1d, 89 ).Subjunctive II is more frequent, so it will be described first (see 39.2–3).39.2 Use of Subjunctive II
(a) The main use of this form of the verb is to express hypothetical or conditional
actions (see also 39.8) or states, for example after als (ob) ‘as if ’, often with the
implication that the event being described is improbable or at least not certain. Note
that the present tense forms can and often do refer to future states and actions:Er hat so getan, als ob er die Geschichte schon gehört hätte.
He pretended to have/acted as if he had already heard the story.39
Subjunctive