A Foundation Course in Reading German, 2017a

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Offline Textbook | A Foundation Course in Reading German https://courses.dcs.wisc.edu/wp/readinggerman/print-entire-textbook/ Page 99 of 151 12/8/2017 Unit: 11: Infinitive usages 3. Infinitive Phrases Modal verbs, as you have already learned, are accompanied by a dependent infinitive without zu (to) because the “to” is inherent in the modal: Er muß gehen (He has to go). However, both English and German employ common verbs such as “to begin,” that we use with a dependent infinitive (“It begins to rain.”). Likewise, adding a bit more complexity, both English and German use dependent infinitives that have their own predicates (“It is his plan to develop a new engine.”). a. Verbs with infinitives and zu Heute beginnt es zu schneien. Today it (begins / is beginning) to snow. Wir haben beschlossen, unsere Ferien in Deutschland zu verbringen. We have decided to spend our holiday in Germany. Der Ingenieur versucht, einen neuen Plan zu entwickeln. The engineer is trying to develop a new plan. The dependent infinitive stands, as usual, in final position in the sentence, but it is preceded by a zu. If the dependent infinitive involves an entire phrase, as in our second and third examples, this phrase is separated from the main clause by a comma. Note that the structure of longer infinitive phrases appears to an English speaker to be in reverse order. When the dependent infinitive is a separable-prefix verb, the zu appears between the prefix and the stem of the verb, as in: Er vergaß, das Fenster aufzumachen. He forgot to open the window. Modal verbs can also appear in these constructions: Ich hoffe, eines Tages deutsche Zeitungen ohne Wörterbuch lesen zu können. I hope to be able to read German newspapers without a dictionary someday.
Offline Textbook | A Foundation Course in Reading German https://courses.dcs.wisc.edu/wp/readinggerman/print-entire-textbook/ Page 100 of 151 12/8/2017 In the same way English does, German permits infinitive phrases to refer to completed actions, by using an infinitive form of present-perfect tense. Compare the preceding, modal example with the following, completed-action example. Notice how the helping verb of the present-perfect tense (in this case, haben) fits into the phrase at the same place the modal verb did above: Sie verspricht, vor nächster Woche eine deutsche Zeitung gelesen zu haben. She promises to have read a German newspaper before next week. or: She promises that she will have read a German newspaper before next week. Here is an extensive but not exhaustive list of German verbs that can be used with dependent infinitives and zu. Your will notice that they are, for the most part, counterparts of English verbs which function in the same way. anfangen / beginnen aufhören befehlen beschließen brauchen drohen hoffen pflegen scheinen vergessen verlangen vermögen versprechen versuchen wagen to begin to stop / to cease to order to decide to need to threaten to hope to be used to (in the habit of) to seem / to appear to forget to demand to be capable to promise to try />to attempt to risk
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A Foundation Course in Reading German, 2017a

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