Personal extension
The term personal ending (also: personal form, finite verb form ) denotes those endings of the verbs that express the category person .
An example of a personal extension in German
In German the first, second and third person are expressed in verbs, both in the singular (singular) and in the plural (plural). A distinction must be made between the following personal endings:
- 1st person singular, example: "I play-e"; the personal ending is: "-e";
- 2nd person singular, example: "you play-st"; the personal ending is: "-st";
- 3rd person singular, example: "he, she, it plays-t"; the personal ending is: "-t";
- 1st person plural, example: "we play-en"; the personal ending is: "-en";
- 2nd person plural, example: "you play-t"; the personal ending is: "-t";
- 3rd person plural, example: "they play-en"; the personal ending is: "-en".
So there are 4 different personal endings in this scheme ( paradigm ) to distinguish 6 different combinations of the categories person and number . The forms become unambiguous by combining them with the corresponding personal pronouns .
The infinite verb forms
Not all verb endings express a person; these are therefore not part of the personal endings. These are the endings for the infinitive and the participles . These are therefore also known as infinite verb forms.
Other languages
In other languages the situation is often different than in German. English has only one personal ending for the 3rd person singular: "he, she, it run-s" with "-s" as the personal ending. All other people are only expressed through the personal pronouns.
literature
- Hadumod Bußmann : Lexicon of Linguistics. 3rd, updated and expanded edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-520-45203-0 .
- Helmut Glück (Ed.), With the collaboration of Friederike Schmöe : Metzler Lexikon Sprache. 3rd, revised edition. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2005, ISBN 3-476-02056-8 .
