G4U1 Week 2 Skills
Double Infinitives
Back in German 2, we saw how the simple past of modal verbs worked. Look at these examples.
Ich wollte mit ihm sprechen.
Sie konnte das nicht lesen.
Wir mussten mit dem Auto fahren.
(In German 3, we took the simple past endings for modal verbs and used them for the simple past of
regular verbs.)
English has a similar form for the past tense modal verb sentences; a simple past for the modal verb
coupled with the main verb:
I wanted to speak with him.
She couldn't read that.
We had to travel by car.
For the past tense of sentences with modal verbs, German also has a second past tense form. Look
at these examples:
Ich habe mit ihm sprechen wollen.
Sie hat das nicht lesen können.
Wir haben mit dem Auto fahren mϋssen.
Each of these sentences expresses the same idea and time as the simple past sentences; they use
however a helping verb--the correct form of haben--and a "double infinitive."
For speakers of English, this form may sound initially as if it expresses the present tense; there are
no past tense markers (endings, stem changes) that signal the past. However, it is indeed the past,
and it is commonly used in German. Moreover, once English speakers get past the initial feeling of
"present tense," they will usually find it a very easy form to use for the past tense of modal sentences.
Here is a table of some simple past modal sentences with their double infinitive counterpart:
Biff wollte mit Monika tanzen. Biff hat mit Monika tanzen wollen.
Wir konnten ihn nicht hören. Wir haben ihn nicht hören können.
Sie wollte mit uns fahren. Sie hat mit uns fahren wollen.
Note that the double infinitive always uses a form of "haben" as its helping verb--in the last example,
"fahren" usually takes a form of "sein," but here, with the double infinitive, it uses a form of "haben."