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angelito
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
proud father of a princess
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posted April 26, 2008 12:06 AM |
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Quote:
I was told that the past participle of sollen was sollen when used with an infinitive (and not gesollt), so "habe ... sollen" is in the past
That's correct, but the word "sollen" is only used with "subjunctive" form. So if u say "we should", it is "Wir sollten", but if u use past tense like "we should have...", u have to put the verb "haben" into subjunctive form, because "sollen" doesn't have a subjunctive form. And the past tense subjunctive form of "haben" is "hätte" (I, first person singular) or "hätten" (We, first person plural).
We should have gone = Wir hätten gehen sollen
It would have been better if we had left = Es wäre besser gewesen, wir wären gegangen.
Quote:
How would you translate just, "because I should have"?
Normally u do not use "because" in such a case if u talk german, therefore it is hard to translate.
"I made a big mistake yesterday, because I should have left before she entered" = "Ich habe gestern einen großen Fehler gemacht, da ich besser gegangen wäre, bevor sie herein kam.
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Better judged by 12 than carried by 6.
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Gnoll_Mage
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted April 26, 2008 12:25 AM |
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Ok thanks very much, I get it now.
Challenge: add in punctuation ",; to make sense of this:
James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher.
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Corribus
Hero of Order
The Abyss Staring Back at You
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posted April 26, 2008 12:36 AM |
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Quote:
"I made a big mistake yesterday, because I should have left before she entered" = "Ich habe gestern einen großen Fehler gemacht, da ich besser gegangen wäre, bevor sie herein kam.
Why not: Ich habe gestern einen großen Fehler gemacht, weil ich besser gegangen wäre, bevor sie herein kam.
Also, I believe it's also appropriate to say (correct me if I'm wrong, my german is five years rusty):
Ich machte gestern einen großen Fehler, weil ich besser gegangen wäre, bevor sie herein kam.
Also, my old german book uses the word sollte all the time.
I.e.
Ich sollte einen Apfel gegessen haben. = I should have eaten a cookie.
Is that not sound?
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I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're goin', and hook up with them later. -Mitch Hedberg
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Gnoll_Mage
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted April 26, 2008 01:24 AM |
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What about "..., weil ich gegangen sollte sein"?
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executor
Famous Hero
Otherworldly Ambassador
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posted April 26, 2008 02:34 AM |
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Since when der Apfel means a cookie  ?
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Understanding is a three-edged sword.
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Corribus
Hero of Order
The Abyss Staring Back at You
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posted April 26, 2008 06:53 AM |
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Sorry, I meant Apple. I guess you know where my mind was.
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radar
Responsible
Legendary Hero
Castle/Haven player
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posted April 26, 2008 08:26 AM |
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I only know you put two infinitives in Perfekt when you use modal (?) verbs like sollen or durfen.
Otherwise, it goes normally with haben/sein and the third form of a verb, while sein is used when we talk about state change or movement, like Ich bin in die Schule gegangen
... probably
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Golemcrafter
Promising
Famous Hero
Unlimited Fantasy Master
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posted April 26, 2008 09:00 AM |
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Quote:
Otherwise, it goes normally with haben/sein and the third form of a verb, while sein is used when we talk about state change or movement, like Ich bin in die Schule gegangen
... probably
Yes, you are right, Radar! But there can be sentences where either sein or haben can be used:
Ich bin mit dem Auto gefahren. = I was driving with the car.
Ich habe das Auto gefahren. = I was driving the car.
Btw, I am learning german since 10 years.
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Korejora
Promising
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posted April 26, 2008 09:12 AM |
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Quote:
Quote:
I can't think of a single word that it can be used for.
Can you say "I want a bunch of water"?
Yes, you can say that. You can use "bunch" to refer simply to a large amount of something, even if there isn't technically 'more than one' of that thing, such as a "bunch of water" or a "bunch of money".
I have definitely heard people say "I'm going to drink a bunch of water" before.
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That's the best part. 
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angelito
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
proud father of a princess
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posted April 26, 2008 09:55 AM |
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Quote:
Quote:
"I made a big mistake yesterday, because I should have left before she entered" = "Ich habe gestern einen großen Fehler gemacht, da ich besser gegangen wäre, bevor sie herein kam.
Why not: Ich habe gestern einen großen Fehler gemacht, weil ich besser gegangen wäre, bevor sie herein kam.
While this may sound correct, it is completely theoretically. You will hardly find anyone talking/writing like this. I guess the way most of german native speakers would say it looks like this:
Es war ein großer Fehler gestern, nicht zu gehen beor sie herein kam.
Quote:
Ich machte gestern einen großen Fehler, weil ich besser gegangen wäre, bevor sie herein kam.
No one will ever say "Ich machte einen Fehler". It will always be "Ich habe einen Fehler gemacht" Even though the first phrase probably is gramatically correect (not sure though)
Quote:
Ich sollte einen Apfel gegessen haben. = I should have eaten a cookie.
No. This would be "Ich hätte einen Apfel essen sollen". As written in my answer to GnollMage, "sollte" as past tense form is always connected with subjunctive (hätte).
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Better judged by 12 than carried by 6.
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JoonasTo
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
What if Elvin was female?
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posted April 26, 2008 10:16 AM |
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When will you people(not including Germans that is) learn?
In German imperfekt is reserved for newsreaders, only.
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DON'T BE A NOOB, JOIN A.D.V.E.N.T.U.R.E.
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radar
Responsible
Legendary Hero
Castle/Haven player
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posted April 29, 2008 09:28 AM |
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We often post on HC relations of what we do, like,
" *rolls on the floor* " etc.
My questions is, why are they all in Present Simple? What's the rule for it? If I didn't know natives do that in this way I'd put similar sentences in Present Continuous lol. Please explain.
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Gnoll_Mage
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted April 30, 2008 11:37 PM |
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Well grammatically speaking the continuous makes sense; I guess it's just one of those things, an internet phenomenon. Maybe think of it as reporting your actions as if you were a third party looking on: "(Radar) *writes a post*" etc..
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Binabik
Responsible
Legendary Hero
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posted May 01, 2008 09:42 AM |
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*rolls on the floor*
*writes a post*
I think this is just an internet thing. In RL I can't think of an example of when this would be used in the first person like it is on the net. I would call it narrative, but I don't think that's the proper term for it. And I believe narrative would always be in the third person.
All third person present tense verbs end in ‘s’ (or 'es').
I'm not sure about any of this, so someone can correct me if I'm wrong.
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radar
Responsible
Legendary Hero
Castle/Haven player
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posted May 03, 2008 06:07 PM |
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Edited by radar at 18:08, 03 May 2008.
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Thank you for all your answers
I have two more Qs for now:
1. When we use your and when yours?
2. Please explain me in-depth Past Simple and Present Perfect contrast (I did/I have done).
I know we use the Present Perfect tense when a something that began in close past has connection with present time:
I've lost my wallet. I can't pay for the ticket"
... while Past Simple doesn't
I visited my aunt last weekend.
But I often have trouble with defining if something has influence on present situation.
Any advices on it?
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mvassilev
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted May 03, 2008 06:23 PM |
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"Yours" is a possessive pronoun.
"Your" is an adjective.
"This book is yours." "Yours" is a pronoun.
"This is your book." "Your" is an adjective describing "book".
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Eccentric Opinion
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Spectrum
Famous Hero
Plan B
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posted May 03, 2008 06:39 PM |
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Edited by Spectrum at 18:42, 03 May 2008.
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1. "Your" and "yours" is much like "my" and "mine". "Yours" is an independent pronoun, meaning that it refers to a noun that was already mentioned in the previous sentence, or at the beginning of the same sentence. Meaning that "yours" is often if not always placed at the end of the clause, and the noun that it refers to can not be after it in the clause. This car is yours. I like this car. Is it yours? "Your", on the other hand, is often placed right before the noun to which it refers. This is your car. I like your car. It can't exist without the noun in the same clause.
2. Present perfect also refers to something that has been going on for some time, and hasn't ended yet. I have been walking for two hours now. I have lived here since 1995. I have not seen that movie yet. (Not having seen the movie being a state which has not yet ended.) Past simple, however, always indicates actions that have alredy ended. If you can tell when exactly it happened, you'll most likely use present simple. I walked my dog yesterday. I worked there in 1989. If you mention the exact time when the action took place, or if the time has an importance, use past simple. If the time of the event is not important, you can use present perfect. I lost my wallet last week. I've lost my wallet.
So, the bottom line is that
Something began in the past, and ended in the past  Past simple
Something began in the past and is still going on Present perfect.
This is the ground rule. There are, of course, exceptions, but in English language there always are. There's no way around that.
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Aculias is like the male nipple of HC, TNT being the other one -Baklava
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radar
Responsible
Legendary Hero
Castle/Haven player
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posted July 24, 2008 09:49 PM |
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Next question
Is it possible to say "I have been sleeping for 7 hours", ( - I just have finished), or it means that I am still sleeping?
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Cepheus
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Far-flung Keeper
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posted July 24, 2008 09:51 PM |
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It sure is, since you wouldn't normally be speaking at all if you were still asleep. 
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JoonasTo
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
What if Elvin was female?
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posted July 24, 2008 09:56 PM |
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What if you are talking in your sleep?
Really, I know a middle-aged couple who discuss between themselves while they are asleep. 
I've heard them. So if people talk in their sleep in Finnish why wouldn't Egnlsihg people do the same?
The man does lots of long distance work trips so I quess that's the only time when they have time to talk.
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