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 69 of 151 12/8/2017 It may help to review the meaning of German present tense at this point. German present tense is actually closer to the meaning of English present-perfect tense, because English present-perfect tense expresses that the action is continuing from the past into the present, quite specifically including the present. Compare: Ich bin seit sechs Jahren Student. (German present tense) I have been a student for six years. (English present-perfect tense) Ich bin Student gewesen. (German present-perfect tense) Ich war Student. (German simple-past tense – exactly the same meaning) I was a student. (English past tense) Again, pay attention to additional time information given in the sentence when deciding how to translate German present and present-perfect verb tenses. And in the absence of additional time information, understand German present-perfect tense as English past tense. Unit: 7: Perfect tenses and participles 3. Past Perfect Tense German past perfect (also called pluperfect) visually differs from the German present perfect only in the tense of the auxiliary verb. The meaning of German past-perfect tense is identical to English past-perfect tense. Compare these examples: PAST PERFECT Er hatte ein Buch gekauft. He had bought a book. Er war in die Stadt gegangen. He had gone to town. PRESENT PERFECT Er hat ein Buch gekauft. He bought a book. Er ist in die Stadt gegangen. He went to town. The past perfect has only this one use. Just as is in the present perfect, note that the past participle appears in final position. Unit: 7: Perfect tenses and participles 4. Word Formation from Past Participles
Offline Textbook | A Foundation Course in Reading German https://courses.dcs.wisc.edu/wp/readinggerman/print-entire-textbook/ Page 70 of 151 12/8/2017 1. Past participles may also be used as adjectives, just as they can in English. You will usually not find these adjectives listed separately in your dictionary; you are responsible for recognizing them as participles functioning as adjectives, and for using the dictionary entry for the infinitive form of the verb to look up their meaning. Das Fenster ist geschlossen. The window is closed. ein gekochtes Ei a boiled egg The first example should not be confused with the present perfect tense. Keep in mind that the verb schließen uses haben as a helping verb, not sein, to form present perfect tense. Since it is grammatically (and sensibly) impossible to read this as a verb, it is apparently being used as an adjective; it tells you the condition of the window, not what is happening to it. 2. Past participles may also be used as adjectival nouns. As you learned in Unit 4, you can recognize adjectival nouns from their normal noun capitalization and syntax position, but with the addition of an appropriate adjective ending. Thus, for example, in nominative case: das Geschriebene (from schreiben – to write) [literally:] the written / [usually:] that which was written / [or:] what was written das Gesagte (from sagen – to say) [literally:] the said / [usually:] that which was said / [or:] what was said In the next example, you should recognize nouns formed from the verbs fangen and sagen: Der Gefangene entnahm dem Gesagten, daß es spät war. The prisoner gathered from what was said that it was late. Unit: 7: Perfect tenses and participles 5. Present Participles
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A Foundation Course in Reading German, 2017a

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