Skip to main content

Full text of "The Loom Of Language"

See other formats 


BircTs-Eye Vitw of Teutonic Grammar    297

umrrftected adjective are survivals of the genitive case form^ e g r-edits
(to the right), links (to the left), flugs (quickly), stets (always) The
genitive case-form of the noun is also used to express indefinite time, e g.
ernes Tages (one day), morgens (in the morning) The latter must not be
confused with morgen (to-morrow) The accusative form is used in
adverbial expressions involving definite time, e g .

er lag den ganzen Tag im Bett
er gehtjeden Tag in den Park

he lay the whole day in bed
he goes to the park every day

THE GERMAN VERB

With one outstanding exception., and with due allowances for the
second sound-shift, the High German verb is like the Dutch. The past
with haben can replace the English simple past or the English past with
have The past with hatte (er hatte gehort�he had heard) is like the
English construction In parts of Germany, the simple past has disap-
peared in daily speech A Bavarian housewife says ich habe Kartoffeln
geschalt Context or the insertion of a particle of time shows whether
this means (a) I was peeling potatoes, (b) I have just peeled potatoes
The following table summarizes the formation of the simple present
and simple past by suffixes added to the stem of a weak verb (i e what
remains after lemoving the affix -en from the infinitive) or by helper
verbs A good dictionary always gives lists of strong verbs and their
parts The reader will find some important irregularities of personal
flexion in the discussion of internal vowel change on p 208 in Chapter V.


	PRESENT
	PAST TENSE
	FUTURE

ist Sing
	-E
	I                    habe  "1
	werde    1


	
	HE)TE
	

3rd Sing
	-(E)T
	J               or hat      >   -4- past
	wird        > -r infinitive


	
	participle
	

Plural
	-EN
	-(E)TEN       haben J
	werden J

The one exception mentioned in the preceding paragraph is the way
m which future time and condition are expressed In Dutch, as in
Scandinavian dialects, the corresponding equivalents zal and zoude
replace shall and should At one time the shall (SOLL) verb of High
German dialects was also a helper to indicate future time. During the
fourteenth century it disappeared as a time marker in the Court German
of the chancelleries, and reverted to its original compulsive meaning
in thou shalt not commit adultery In daily speech futuie time is usually
K*