Intermediate German: A Grammar and Workbook

Hast du gestern ferngesehen?

Did you watch TV last night?

Word order

In a main clausethe relevant form of habenorseinis the second element

and the past participle moves to the end:

Erhatdie Tür aufgemacht.

He (has) opened the door.

Wir sindnur eine Woche geblieben.

We only stayed for a week.

Insubordinate clauses, the appropriate form of habenorseinis usually

placed in the last position. It is preceded by the past participle:

Es stimmt, dass er früher in Tirol gelebt hat.

It is true that he used to live in the Tyrol.

Ich denke, dass sie mit dem Auto gefahren sind.

I think that they went by car.

Using the simple past instead of the

present perfect

Although the present perfect is normally used when talking about past

events, it is quite common to use the simple past tenseofmodal verbsin

spoken German:

Ich konnte gestern nicht kommen.

I couldn’t come yesterday.

Was wolltest du eigentlich kaufen?

What did you actually want to buy?

Note also that the present perfect of habenandseinis often replaced

with the simple past forms:

Ich habe Urlaub gehabt. → Ich hatte Urlaub.

Ich bin im Kino gewesen. → Ich war im Kino.

86 Unit 11: The present perfect tense

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