Double past perfect

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The double past perfect (also ultra- past perfect or double past perfect ) is a past tense of the German language that occurs especially in German dialects and the German colloquial language . Analogous to the double past perfect there is also the double perfect .

The double past perfect was already used by Martin Luther in 1519 , but is not considered a standard language.

Education and use

In the case of the double past perfect, the auxiliary verb “haben” or “sein”, which is necessary to form the perfect, is in the past tense itself. The expressive verb and again the auxiliary verb are both always in the past participle and are therefore the same in every person.

  • Have with auxiliary verb :
  • To be with auxiliary verb :
    • I walked. (Preterite)
    • I went. (Perfect)
    • I had gone. (Past continuous)
    • I've been gone (double perfect)
    • I was gone. (double past perfect in the indicative)
    • I would have gone. (double past perfect in the subjunctive)

While the double perfect usually denotes the seclusion of a successor state in the present, the double past perfect refers to a state of the past. Both times also stand for the addition of a reinforcing, emphasizing aspect.

"Mignon was hiding, had touched him and bit his arm."

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe : Master Wilhelm's apprenticeship years, 5th book, 12th chapter

Just like the subjunctive double perfect, the double past perfect occurs in the subjunctive in indirect speech.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ludger Hoffmann: German grammar. Basics for teacher training, school, German as a second language and German as a foreign language. Erich Schmidt, Berlin 2106, p. 251.
  2. The ultra-perfect . Onion fish ; accessed on January 22, 2017.
  3. Bernhard Lohse: Luther's theology in its historical development . 1995, ISBN 978-3-525-52196-0 , p. 106.
  4. Roland Harweg : Studies on time stages and their aspectuality. 1994, p. 44.
  5. Roland Harweg : Studies on the verb and its environment. 2014, p. 432.
  6. Cactus German conjugation tables