Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

Er komme,

Er soll kommen.

}

He may

[blocks in formation]

Sie mögen kommen. They may come-let them come.

In the first person of the Imperative Mood we employ

the verb lassen. Ex.:

[blocks in formation]

We may also say: gehen wir; or: wir wollen gehen, we

will go.

4. INFINITIVE MOOD.

§79. The German Infinitive is used with or without

the preposition zu. It is used without zu:

1. When it is the subject of a preposition. Ex.:

Vicl trinken ist ungesund.

2. After the verbs

To trink much is unwholesome.

dürfen, können, lassen, mögen,

müssen, sollen, werden, wollen, helfen, hören, lehren, lernen,

schen, fühlen.

Ich darf hoffen.

Ex.:

Du kannst schreiben.
Er muß arbeiten.

Wir hören ihn reden.

Wir sahen sie tanzen.

Mein Bruder lernt zeichnen.

In all other cases the preposition zu. Ex.:

Er wünscht mit Ihnen zu sprechen.
Wir hoffen morgen einen Brief zu er:

halten.

Ich bitte Sie, einen Augenblick auszustehen.

Ich fürchte es ihm zu sagen.

Es ist traurig, keine Freunde zu

haben.

Wir haben noch drei Meilen zu machen.

I may hope.
Thou canst write.
He must work.

We hear him speak.

We saw her dancing.
My brother learns drawing.

Infinitive is preceded by the

[blocks in formation]

If we wish to indicate precisely the object, the motive

of an action, um is added to the prep. zu. Ex.:

Ich komme, um mit Ihnen zu I come in order to speak to you.

sprechen.

Wir leben nicht, um zu essen, sondern

wir essen, um zu leben.

We do not live in order to eat, but we eat in order to live.

Every German Infinitive may be taken substantively,

and be preceded by the article. Ex.:

[blocks in formation]

There are, however, cases, where the present Parti

ciple is also used in German to unite two sentences into

one; which, however, can only take place, when the two sentences have the same subject. Ex.:

Zitternd sagte er mir......

He told me trembling

Erröthend vor Scham entfernte er Blushing with shame he withsich.

drew.

§ 81. The past participle serves not only to form the compound tenses of verbs, but it is also very often

used as an adjective.

Ein gekröntes Haupt;

Das geliebte Kind;

Der angefangene Brief;

a crowned head.

the beloved child.

the commenced letter.

The past participle replaces sometimes the Imperative,

the Infinitive, and even the present participle. Ex.:

Das heißt gearbeitet (instead of:

Getrunken, gespielt!

arbeiten).

Er kam gelaufen, gesprungen.

Let us drink, play!

That is called working.

He came on running, jumping.

Sometimes also the past participle of those verbs the Infinitive of which is used without zu (§ 79), is replaced

by their Infinitive. Ex.:

Ich habe ihn ankommen sehen (gesehen).

Er hat bezahlen müssen (gemußt). Wir haben ihn singen hören (ge= hört).

Sie hat es ihm nicht sagen dürfen (gedurft).

I have seen him arrive.

He has been obliged to pay.
We have heard him sing.

She dared not tell him.

In rhetoric style, the past participle also serves to connect two sentences and to render the expression more concise and distinct. Ex.:

Von seinen Freunden verrathen, von
seinen Feinden verfolgt, entfloh
Themistokles nach Persien.

Die Unschuld ist der Seele Glück;
Einmal verscherzt und aufgegeben,
Verläßt sie uns im ganzen Leben,
Und keine Neu' bringt sie zurück.

Betrayed by his friends, persecuted by his enemies, Tliemistocles escaped to Persia. Innocence is the happiness of the soul; once forfeited and lost, it will leave us for ever, and no repentance can recall it.

CHAPTER XII.

OF THE USE OF THE TENSES.

1. PRESENT TENSE.

§ 82. The Present Tense is used in German as in English, and in addition in the following case, where the Perfect is substituted in English; viz., when speaking of any length of time past, up to the present moment, and including it. Ex.:

Wir wohnen seit fünf Jahren in diesem Hause.

Ihr Dheim m ist schon elf Jahre
todt.

Ich habe es schon seit meiner
Kindheit.

Seit wann sind Sie hier?

We have been living in this house for five years.

Their uncle has been dead these eleven years.

I have had it from my childhood.

How long have you been here?

hour.

Ich warte bereits seit einer Stunde I have been waiting for you this auf Sie.

2. IMPERFECT TENSE.

§ 83. The Imperfect Tense is used in German,

1. In historical narrative.

Friederich der Große war ein großer Feldherr, aber er liebte und beschüste auch die Wissenschaften.

2. To express a time with Ich schrieb, als du kamst.

Als sie mich sah, fing fie an zu

weinen.

Während der Sturm tobte, schlief er ganz fest.

Ex.:

Frederick the great was a great general, but he also loved and protected the sciences. relation to another. Ex.: I was writing when you came. When she saw me, she began to cry.

During the noise of the storm he slept quite soundly.

3. To narrate events, of which the narrator was an eye-witness. Ex.:

Gestern ereignete sich ein sonderbarer
Vorfall unter meinem Fenster.
Der Professor hielt eine lange Rede,
und wir begleiteten ihn nach Hause
zurück.

Yesterday a strange accident happened under my window. The professor made a long speech, and we accompanied him home.

3. PERFECT TENSE.

§ 84. The Perfect Tense is used

1. In relating events of which the narrator was not an

eye-witness. Ex.:

Es hat sich ein sonderbarer Vorfall ereignet.

Der Professor hat eine lange Rede gehalten und seine Zuhörer werden sie drucken lassen.

Der Herzog ist gestern in B. angekommen.

A strange accident has happened.

The professor has made a long speech, and his auditors will have it printed.

The duke arrived at B. yesterday.

2. In expressing any definite past time, without reference to another (when in English the Imperfect

Tense is used). Ex.:

Ich bin heute in der Kirche gewesen.

Wir sind gestern angekommen.

Ich habe diesen Morgen meine
Brieftasche verloren.

Mein Freund hat voriges Jahr
eine große Reise gemacht.
Sind Sie gestern im Konzert ge
wesen?

I was at church to-day.

We arrived yesterday.
I lost my pocket-book this
morning.

My friend performed a long jour-
ney last year.

Were you at the concert yesterday?

§ 85. The Pluperfect and Future Tenses are employed in German as in English.

Observation. In English there are three forms for the Present and Imperfect, and two forms for the Perfect and Pluperfect Tenses; viz.: I work, I am working, I do work, I worked, was working, did work; I have worked; I have been working; I had been working ;-but in German they are all supplied by the simple form: ich arbeite, ich ar beitete, ich habe gearbeitet, ich hatte gearbeitet.

CHAPTER XIII.

OF THE CONSTRUCTION.

§ 86. The German construction differs in several points from the English. There are two principal rules to be observed: 1. that the word, expressing the principal idea, is always placed after those words which express only accessory ideas; 2. that the expression which is, so to say, the key of the sentence, and without which the sense could not be well understood, is always placed at the end of the sentence.

PARTICULAR RULES.

1. The adjective is always placed before its substantive, and preceded by all those words which depend on it. Ex.:

Ein gegen Jedermann höflicher A man, polite to everybody.
Mensch.

Die Ihnen vorgestern zugeschickten The goods sent to you the day
Waaren.

before yesterday.

2. The Dative generally precedes the Accusative, except when both are personal pronouns, in which case the

English construction is used.

Gcben Sie dem Herrn einen Stuhl. Ich habe Ihrem Bruder ein Buch geliehen.

Ich schenke sie Ihnen.

Man sagte es uns.

Er schrieb es mir.

But:

Ex.:

Give a chair to the gentleman.
I have lent a book to your bro-

ther.

[blocks in formation]

If one of the cases is a pronoun, it is placed before

the noun.

Ex.:

Ich kann es meinem Freunde nicht abschlagen.

Ich leihe dir meine Feder.

I cannot refuse it to my friend.

I lend thee my pen.

3. The Nominative case is placed after the verb, or after the auxiliary, when there is a compound tense, whenever the sentence begins with any other word than

the Nominative. Ex.:

[blocks in formation]
« VorigeDoorgaan »