Modern German Grammar: A Practical Guide, Second Edition

NOTE Prepositional verbs make a clause completion using da + preposition (see 32 , 38.2 and 50.6):

Sie hat darauf bestanden, dass sie das Wochenende frei haben

müsste.

She insisted that she had to have the weekend free.

 See also 10.5d (p. 16).

(f) Completion by an infinitive clause with zu

Some verbs can be completed by an infinitive clause with zu, either on its own:

Ich habe vor, in den Ferien Spanisch zu lernen.

I intend to learn Spanish in the holidays.

 See^36 (pp. 81–7).

Sie beabsichtigt, nächstes Jahr nach Japan zu fahren.

She intends to go to Japan next year.

or as one of two completions:

Er half mir, diese Wohnung zu finden.

He helped me to find this apartment.

Sie ermahnte ihn, langsamer zu fahren.

She urged him to drive more slowly.

 See also 8.7a (p. 13) for word order in infinitive clauses.

(g) Sometimes a ‘dummy subject’ es occupies first position, when the real subject (in

italics in the examples below) comes later in the sentence. This pattern is a variation

on the standard SV pattern. Compare English ‘There is... /There are... ’:

Es fehlt ein Hunderteuroschein. (= Ein Hunderteuroschein fehlt.)

A hundred euro note is missing.

There is a hundred euro note missing.

Es besteht die Gefahr, dass... (= Die Gefahr besteht, dass... )

There is the danger that... (lit. The danger exists that... )

Note that the dummy es can also be used with a plural subject:

Es kommen bald bessere Verkaufszahlen. (= Bessere Verkaufszahlen

kommen bald.)

Better sales figures are coming soon.

 See also 15.1 (p. 20) on word order and 40.2c (p. 103) on usage with the passive.

(h) Impersonal verbs with es as the subject are best learnt as a unit:

Es gelingt (+ dat.) ‘to succeed’

42

Basic sentence patterns