A Foundation Course in Reading German, 2017a
A Foundation Course in Reading German, 2017a
A Foundation Course in Reading German, 2017a
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Offl<strong>in</strong>e Textbook | A <strong>Foundation</strong> <strong>Course</strong> <strong>in</strong> Read<strong>in</strong>g <strong>German</strong><br />
https://courses.dcs.wisc.edu/wp/read<strong>in</strong>ggerman/pr<strong>in</strong>t-entire-textbook/<br />
Page 94 of 151<br />
12/8/2017<br />
e. dürfen and müssen<br />
Because müssen and its forms so closely resemble English “must,” it is easy to<br />
mistranslate it, above all <strong>in</strong> the negative sense. For example:<br />
Wir müssen nicht nach Hause gehen.<br />
We do not have to go home.<br />
müssen means “have to” and the nicht negates it. Thus müssen plus a<br />
negative means “to not have to,” NOT “must not.” Thus it would be a common<br />
mistake by English speakers to misunderstand this example as “We must not<br />
go home.”<br />
The same danger applies when translat<strong>in</strong>g dürfen:<br />
Wir dürfen nicht nach Hause gehen.<br />
We are not allowed to go home. [or:] We must not go home.<br />
An English speaker might misunderstand this sentence as: “We are allowed to<br />
not go home.”<br />
f. Implied <strong>in</strong>f<strong>in</strong>itives: More often than <strong>in</strong> English, <strong>in</strong> <strong>German</strong> you may see modal<br />
verbs used <strong>in</strong> a sentence without any correspond<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>f<strong>in</strong>itive verb. In these<br />
cases, the context provides enough <strong>in</strong>formation to make the sentence<br />
comprehensible. Note b) above mentioned one common example (<strong>in</strong> which the<br />
implied <strong>in</strong>f<strong>in</strong>itive was sprechen) and here are three more:<br />
Willst du jetzt nach Hause?<br />
Do you want to go home now?<br />
Es ist kalt hier auf dem Balkon. Wir müssen bald <strong>in</strong>s Zimmer.<br />
It’s cold here on the balcony. We’ll have to move <strong>in</strong>side soon.<br />
Kommst du mit <strong>in</strong>s K<strong>in</strong>o? Ne<strong>in</strong>, ich mag nicht.<br />
Are you com<strong>in</strong>g with (us/me) to the movies? No, I don’t want to.<br />
g. With perfect and passive <strong>in</strong>f<strong>in</strong>itives:<br />
Modal verbs can also be used with dependent verbs that are not <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>f<strong>in</strong>itive<br />
form, such as to refer to a past event or with a passive-voice dependent verb.<br />
Note <strong>in</strong> these examples the difference <strong>in</strong> tense between the modal verb and its<br />
dependent verb. In the follow<strong>in</strong>g four examples, the modal verbs are all <strong>in</strong><br />
present tense, but modal verbs can potentially be used <strong>in</strong> any tense,