English grammar

The English grammar in this article is the grammar of modern English language .

Sentence structure

In English, the sentence structure ( word order ) follows the SPO rule : subject - predicate (verb) - object; unlike German or the other West Germanic languages, English is not a “verb-second” language .

Why was she able to fly into space? [Literally: Why was she able to fly into space? ]

Because she was dreaming. [Literally: Because she was dreaming ]

Place and time information, which in German is often inserted between the verb and the object, are in English at the beginning of a sentence or after the object at the end of a sentence. If the place and time information meet at the end of a sentence, in English, in contrast to German, the place is before the time (rule: Place before time ). If there are several places and times at the end of the sentence, the sequence “from the more precise to the more imprecise” is always followed.

He lives in a tiny village near the border of Denmark. [Literally: He lives in a small village near the Danish border. ]

Information on the way something is, that is, "How?" Is usually given at the end of the sentence before the place and time information, so the order is "How?" - Where? - When? ".

He was alone at home last night. [Literally: He was home alone last night = last night]

Information on the frequency (how often?), On the other hand, is not found at the end of a sentence, here the position of the sentence depends on the number of words from which the predicate of the sentence is formed. If the predicate consists of only one word, the frequency information is inserted between the subject and the predicate.

I never drink alcohol! [Literally: I never drink alcohol ]

If the predicate consists of two or more words, the frequency information is found after the first word of the predicate.

I will always love you! [Literally: I will always love you! ]

Certain frequency indications, which are also known as adverbs of frequency, can, however, also appear at the beginning of the sentence. These relate to the entire sentence and are placed at the beginning to give them more emphasis. The adverbs of frequency in the English language are: often, usually, sometimes and occasionally

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child. [Literally: Sometimes I feel (like) a motherless child ]

If there are two different objects - indirect (analogous to the German dative ) and direct (analogous to the accusative ) object ( indirect and direct object ) - the SPO rule becomes the SPiOdO rule:

I gave you the book. [Literally: I gave you the book ]

A meaningful rearrangement of the objects is only possible with the help of a preposition:

I gave the book to you. [Literally: I gave the book to you ]

The reason for the - in comparison to German - strict positional rule is that in English the case can usually not be read from the declined form of the noun . For example, “you” means both “du” (nominative) and “dir” (dative) and “dich” (accusative).

Parts of speech

Nouns (nouns, substantives)

Overview of the declension of English nouns

	Subjective / Objective Singular	Subjective / objective plural	Genitive singular	Genitive plural
regularly	car	cars	car's	cars'
regularly	CD	CDs	CD's	CDs'
Exit with s-sound	suffix	suffixes	suffix'	suffixes'
Exit with y after consonant after vowel	family	families	family's	families'
Exit with y after consonant after vowel	boy	boys	boy's	boys'
Exit with o after consonant after vowel	hero	heroes	hero	heroes'
Exit with o after consonant after vowel	zoo	zoos	zoo's	zoos'
Exit with f-sound	wolf	wolves	wolf's	wolves'
Exit with f-sound	wife	wives	wife's	wives'
irregular plural	-man	-men	-man's	-men's
irregular plural	child	children	child's	children's

Plural

English forms the plural in most cases with the suffix -s (without an apostrophe). This is [⁠ s ⁠] to unvoiced consonants ( tulips [ T (j) uːlɪps ]), [⁠ z ⁠] after voiced consonants and vowels ( orchids [ ɔ (ɹ) kɪdz ]), and [ ɨz ] after the sibilant [⁠ s ⁠] , [⁠ z ⁠] , [⁠ ʃ ⁠] , [⁠ ʒ ⁠] , [⁠ tʃ ⁠] , and [⁠ dʒ ⁠] ( roses [ roʊ̯zɨz ] / [ rəʊ̯zɨz ]) pronounced. A small number of Germanic words form their plural with the suffix -en (ox - oxen). Others indicate ablaut (man - men; foot - feet; goose - geese; tooth - teeth; mouse - mice) or have no special plural form (sheep; fish; deer; cattle; moose). Foreign words partially retain their original plural form.

Genitive

The English language uses a possessive or attributive genitive (English possessive ), the attribute of which is usually directly in front of the reference word. English forms the genitive with the apostrophe and s -sound - 's (genitive s ), e.g. B. Janie 's restaurant , Janie's Restaurant ', the Lord 's prayer , Our Father ', literally, the Lord's Prayer ', the river 's course , the course of the river', etc.
In the plural is only an apostrophe behind the plural - s appended, e.g. B. the Clarks' house .
If the plural form is formed irregularly, a - 's is added, as in the singular , e.g. B. Children's toys should be checked properly .

The genitive form is sometimes referred to as Anglo-Saxon genitive in English , but it is an enclitic . Other functions of the genitive are fulfilled or shared with the preposition of (dt. Von ), e.g. As the Marquis of Carabas , the Count of Carabas' and ace of spades , ace of spades ' but kiss true love's the kiss of true love 'next kiss of true love .

Genera

Very few English words mark a grammatical gender (gender). Some words like steward and stewardess make a natural distinction. Some grammatically feminine forms were also derived from the masculine into the 20th century. Women like Amelia Earhart were often referred to as aviatrix rather than aviator . Since the 1960s , these variants have been considered sexist, which is why some try to avoid them entirely. Instead, the masculine form is used as a generic masculine ( aviator for both genders) or a neuter alternative ( flight attendant instead of stewardess ).

items

As in German, the article is used in English to mark certainty. The, the, the , etc. are equivalent to the English the (before consonants: [ də ]; before vowels: [ di ]) and a, a , etc. to the English a (before spoken consonants) or to (in front of spoken vowels) . So it says:

A uniform, a university, a UFO, a European (all starting with a semi-vowel [j]), but

an uncle, an understatement (with initial vowel [ʌ]).

A horse, a house, a home , but

an hour, an honor (mute h ).

Unlike in German, the article is not declined . Therefore, the SPiOdO rule (see above) can only be circumvented with the help of prepositions.

Examples:

The man throws the ball to the dog. (Subject-accusative object-dative object)

The man throws the ball to the dog. (Subject-dative object-accusative object)

The man throws the ball to the dog. (Dative object-subject-accusative object)

The man throws the ball to the dog. (Accusative object-subject-dative object)

(German: "dem" makes the dative recognizable, "the" accusative, "the" nominative)

The man throws the dog the ball. (indirect object first)

The man throws the ball to the dog. (Preposition "to" in front of the indirect object)

The game was canceled due to the rain. ( "Des" indicates genitive)

Because of the rain, the game was canceled. (Preposition "of" makes it clear that "the rain" is not the beginning of a subordinate clause)

Pronouns

person	1st singular	2nd singular	3rd singular	1st plural	2nd plural	3rd plural	question words
Subject ( nominative )	I.	you (thou)	he, she, it	we	you (ye)	they	who
lens	me	you (thee)	him, her, it	us	you	them	whom (who)
attributive possessive pronoun	my	your (thy)	his, her, its	our	your	their	whose
reflexive pronouns	myself	yourself (thyself (also: theeself))	himself, herself, itself	ourselves ( pluralis majestatis : ourself)	yourselves	themselves
non-attributive possessive pronoun	mine	yours (thine)	his, hers, its	ours	yours	theirs

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Early New English made a distinction between the 2nd person singular and the 2nd person plural. Thou (with the inflected verb forms art, hast, lovest etc.) corresponded to the German 'du' and ye / you to 'ihr / dich'; as a polite form was ye / you like German you used. You can see this in a passage from Shakespeare's Hamlet :

Queen: Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended . "Hamlet, you hurt your father very much."

Hamlet: Mother, you have my father much offended . "Mother, you 've really hurt my father."

In New English, all of these 2nd person functions have coincided as you . Today you can only read thou in historical texts, for example in the King James translation of the Bible; B. "Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name ...".
↑ In the southern US some say y'all to appeal to groups. This is a contraction of you and all . Because of the political influence of the South and the pop culture influence of the African American people , y'all has become more popular in America, but its use is limited to the colloquial language. It is not used elsewhere; they say you guys (in most of the US) or you lot (in the UK ) instead .
↑ Whom is written and, especially in spoken language, elevated. Whom is sometimes considered out of date today.

Verbs

The modern English language has given up almost all inflection forms in the last few centuries , so it shows an analytical language structure , in contrast to Latin and the Romance languages derived from it , which have an inflected or synthetic language structure. A comparison of the conjugation of the verb "make" in the Middle English , Early New English and modern forms:

Middle English		Early New English		New English
I	mak e	I.	make	I.	make
þu	make st	thou	mak st	you	make
he / she / it	make þ	he / she / it	make th	he / she / it	make s
we	make n	we	make	we	make
ȝe	make n	ye	make	you	make
þey	make n	they	make	they	make

Progressive form

English always has a form of progression that is used whenever what is described is happening in the narrated moment of the present / past / future. These forms of progress have no direct equivalent in the German language ; In colloquial language, especially in western Germany, tendencies towards a construction from the preposition of + dative + substantive verb are clearly recognizable: "I was driving" = "I was driving" (cf. Rhenish form ). Analogous to this, the form “zu” + infinitive can be found in Berlin , for example “I have a television set in my apartment”.

Irregular verbs

In English there are some verbs whose three stem forms are formed irregularly, similar to German strong verbs . Example "to go":

Simple Present ("I go")
Simple Past ("I went")
Present Perfect Simple ("I have gone")

The number of English strong verbs is between 170 and 300 according to various estimates. 170 covers all common verbs as well as some ancient and literary verbs. The longer lists contain verbs that differ from each other only by the addition of a prefix, e.g. B. wake-woke-woken and awake-awoke-awoken.

Some verbs, around eight that occur frequently, can have either the ending '-ed' or '-t' in the past and in the participle, for example learn - learned or learned. There can be nuances of use or meaning between the forms. One says z. B. 'a spoiled child' but 'you have spoiled the party'. There are also verbs, e.g. B. 'melt', 'cleave' and others, which have several strong forms, a fact that is often due to the merging of different verbs in the past. It often happens that one form is preferred as a verb and the other as an adjective. They say 'the ice has melted' but 'molten metal' or 'molten lava'.

Over time, the irregular verbs undergo a regularization process. Strong forms such as 'help-holp-holpen' are replaced by weak forms such as 'help-helped-helped'. It is estimated that the percentage of verbs that have strong forms (around 25% in Anglo-Saxon literature) has decreased to around 3%, but several of these are among the most widely used verbs.

Auxiliary verbs & modal verbs (auxiliary verbs, auxiliaries)

There are two types of auxiliary verbs (in the broader sense) in English: those that can also be used as full verbs, and the sometimes so-called modal auxiliary verbs, which can only be used in conjunction with a full verb.

Auxiliary verbs are mainly needed for questions and negative statements, but they can also be used in normal positive statements. When there are questions, an auxiliary verb must come before the subject. If no suitable auxiliary verb can be found, “do” is used: Shall we do this? , Do you like me? In the case of negative statements with "not", the auxiliary verb must always be placed in front of it. Here, too, “do” can be used, unless otherwise appropriate: I would not do this , I do not think so.

They are also used for so-called question tags, small appendages to a question: I am right, aren't I ?, You need to go there, needn't you?

be, have and do as auxiliary verbs

Although “be”, “have” and “do” can be used as auxiliary verbs, they also exist as full verbs. They are used as auxiliary verbs just like modal verbs, but there are more short forms than the modal auxiliary verbs.

be

have

do

Present:

Long form	short form
I am	In the
you / we / they are	you're / we're / they're
he / she / it is	he's / she's / it's
are not	aren't
is not	isn't

Present:

Long form	short form
I / you / we / they have	I've / you've / we've / they've
he / she / it has	he's / she's / it's
have not	haven't
has not	hasn't

Present:

Long form	short form
do not	don't
does not	doesn't

Past:

Long form	short form
what not	wasn't
were not	weren't

Past:

Long form	short form
I / you / he / she / it / we / they had	I'd / you'd / he'd / she'd / it'd / we'd / they'd
had not	hadn't

Past:

Long form	short form
did not	didn't

Modal verbs ("modal auxiliary verbs"; modal auxiliary verbs, modal auxiliaries, modal verbs)

In contrast to full verbs, modal verbs can only appear when accompanied by a normal verb. This is connected directly to the auxiliary verb with the infinitive without "to". The only exceptions to this rule are “ought to”, “used to” and “dare to”. Furthermore, no do-paraphrase is used for auxiliary verbs. They also do not have an "s" appended in the third person singular. The auxiliary verbs only exist in a maximum of two tenses (mostly present tense and past tense). A substitute form must be used for all other times. The past tense forms of the auxiliary verbs correspond to the subjunctive forms in German, e.g. B. could , would , ... To express the past, the perfect infinitive of the main verb is often formed, ie "have" and the past participle, e.g. B. We might have done this. A distinction is made between deontic and epistemic modality. The deontic modality expresses that an action is required, should be carried out (e.g. We should open the window.), The epistemic modality expresses conclusions, assumptions, assessments ... (He must be sick.). In the case of the epistemic modality, the problem arises of connecting the corresponding modal auxiliary verb with a certain aspect, which is expressed with the help of the infinitive. The following combination options result:

Infinitive types:

to do - Infinitive Present Active Simple
to have done - Infinitive Perfect Active Simple
to be doing - Infinitive Present Active Continuous
to have been doing - Infinitive Perfect Continuous
to be done - infinitive present passive
to have been done - Infinitive Perfect Passive

Examples of all possible combinations with epistemic modality:

He must work as an engineer. He is so familiar with that specific terminology.
He must have made a lot of money. Have a look at all the things he has afforded so far.
He must be working in the garage at the moment. I can still hear this strange noise.
He must have been telephoning for about twenty minutes now. The line is still busy.
He must be trained regularly. He is always up-to-date as far as his skills are concerned.
He must have been operated on some weeks ago. He looks so much better and healthier again.

The following modal verbs exist in the English language:

Affirmed present	Negative presence	Affirmed past	Negative past	Substitute form
can	cannot (can't)	could	could not (couldn't)	be able to
may	may not	were / was allowed to	weren't / wasn't allowed to	be allowed to
must ⁴	must not (mustn't) ⁴			have to / be allowed to
need	need not (needn't)			have to
want ¹	will not (won't)	would ²	would not (wouldn't)	be willing to / be prepared to
shall	shall not (shan't)	should	should not (shouldn't)	be to
		ought to	ought not to (ought not to)	be to
		used to	used not to
dare to	dare not to (daren't to)	dared to ³	dared not to ³

Further modal verbs and modal auxiliary constructions

going to do (just about to, interrupted action) - I was going to leave the house when the telephone rang.

to be about to do (just wanted to, interrupted action) - I was about to leave the house when the telephone rang.

did not mean to do / didn't mean to do (unintentional act) - Oh sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you.

to be to do (1) (look into the future e.g. of an authorial narrator) - And soon he was to lose his life. (2) Must do according to commands, indications, expectation, etc. He is to meet her at the airport when her plane gets in.

to be meant to do - Oh, is this really meant to be a pullover? This must be the first pullover you have ever knitted.

had better do (should rather, that implies a negative consequence) - The children had better see the dentist twice a year.

to manage to do (can, especially after exertion) - After twenty minutes the old lady managed to cross the street.

to be supposed to do (1) (should in the sense of "They say that, it is claimed that"; epistemic) - The troops are supposed to have been fighting in this region for three weeks now. (2) (American) as to be meant to do - see above.

to be said to do (as above) - The troops are said to have been fighting in this region for three weeks now.

to want to do (want in the sense of intended action) - I have always wanted to become an actor.

The short form is given in brackets, if it exists.

¹ Can also be expressed by adding a "'ll" to the personal pronoun: I'll go there
² Can also be expressed by adding a "d" to the personal pronoun: I'd go there
³ Rarely
⁴ "must" and " must not ”are to be differentiated according to the meaning:“ must ”means“ must ”,“ must not ”means“ not allowed ”. The corresponding negative form of “must” is therefore “need not”. The corresponding positive to “must not” would then be “may”.

There is also “gonna”, the short form of “going to”, which is mainly used colloquially.

ain't

A simple form of negation is made possible in the jargon by “ain't”. It replaces u. a. the forms "am not", "aren't", "isn't", "haven't" and "hasn't".

Description with to do ( do support )

A typical characteristic of English grammar is the paraphrase to do , called do-support in English grammar . This form is only found in full verbs and in three cases: 1) in negation, 2) in interrogative sentences, provided the question pronoun does not form the subject of the sentence, and 3) in emphasis (emphasis, stress).

1) negation

The full English verb can no longer be directly negated with not , but instead uses the auxiliary verb to do . The construction * I saw him not is considered wrong in today's English. It should read: I did not (didn't) see him .

The same applies to the negative imperative: Go! 'Go!'; but: Don't go! ,Do not go!'. As an exception, the negative imperative of to be 'sein' is also paraphrased as to do , although to be is not a full verb: Be happy! ,Be happy!'; but: Don't be silly! ,Do not be stupid!'

2 questions

In questions, the main verb must always come after the subject, which is why it must be paraphrased as to do , unless another, modal, auxiliary verb is used. The question * When you arrived? is therefore wrong according to today's grammar. It should read: When did you arrive? also: Do you understand this?

An exception are the questions in which the question pronoun is identical to the subject: Who claims that this method is wrong? What caused that accident?

3) emphasis

In declarative sentences, the paraphrase to do is used to emphasize a verb: Don't you remember? - O yes, I do remember.

Present tense

Analogous to German, there is a simple present tense in English , the simple present . The corresponding progressive form is the present progressive (also called present continuous ).

The simple present is usually the simple word stem (the infinitive without "to"). Only in the 3rd person singular is an "s" added: She speaks . If the root of the word ends in a vowel, "es" is added instead: He goes . All other people just use the root of the word without change: We listen . Only the verb “to be” develops its own forms (“I am, he is, we / you / they are”). The negative of the simple present is formed with “does not” in the 3rd person and with “do not” in all others: It does not hurt . In the question form, a “does” is put in front of the 3rd person and a “do” in front of all others, e.g. B. Do you like apples?

The simple present is used for all actions in the present that follow one another or have general validity. It can also be used to express the future. For this you have a donkey bridge. Namely: "He / she / it - the 's' must be included!"

The present progressive (or present continuous) is formed using a form of the simple present “to be” and the present participle (also called ing-form ) of the verb: We are leaving Las Vegas . By inserting a “not” in front of the participle, the statement is negated, e.g. B. You are not reading this book . A question is asked by placing the form of “to be” at the beginning: Is it screaming?

The present progressive is used to express actions that are currently in progress in the present or that are limited to a certain period of time. It can also be used to express a form of the future (see there). As in German "I'm working" or "I don't have time, I'm writing."

past

English knows the following past tenses :

The simple past (also called preterite , past tense ), which corresponds to the German past tense , with its progressive form, the past progressive (also called past continuous )
The present perfect simple, which corresponds to the German perfect , with its progressive form, the present perfect progressive
The Past Perfect Simple, the German pluperfect corresponds with its progressive form, the Past Perfect Progressive

Simple past tense (past simple, simple past)

The simple past is formed by adding an "ed" to the root of regular verbs, for example He walked to the store . For irregular verbs, the second form of the verb ( Simple Past Form ) is used. If a negative is to be expressed, use “did not” and the root word: He did not shoot . A question is asked by putting a “did” in front of the root of the word, for example Did she love you?

It is used for actions that follow one another directly, actions that interrupt other events and actions whose exact point in time in the past is known or for descriptions of images.

Actions that interrupt other happenings
and completed actions that do not affect the present
as well as those whose exact time in the past is known
Sometimes signal words that are close to the present are excluded from this. (see difference between present perfect and simple past).

Past progressive

The past progressive is formed from the corresponding simple past form of "to be" and the present participle of the verb: He was going to school . By inserting a “not” in front of the participle, the statement is negated, e.g. B. You were not laughing . A question is formulated by prefixing the form of “to be”, such as Was he howling?

It is used for actions that are currently taking place in the past moment, actions that are interrupted by other actions, and actions that are taking place simultaneously.

present perfect simple

The present perfect simple is created by combining the simple present form of “to have” and the third verb form (past participle). A negative is generated by inserting a “not” after the form of “to have”: You have not dreamed . In order to formulate a question, the form of "to have" is preferred, e.g. B. Have I left the room?

It is used for actions in which the result should be emphasized, actions that continue into the present, actions that have just been completed, and actions that have been completed but still have an impact on the present.

present perfect progressive

The present perfect progressive is formed by putting the appropriate form of “to have” in front of the particle “been” and the present participle of the verb: She has been laughing . To deny the statement, a “not” is placed between the form of “to have” and “been”, for example They have not been eating . The form of “to have” is put in front of the question form: Have they been smoking?

It is used for actions in which the action itself or its duration should be emphasized, but not the result, and actions that are happening in the past at the moment, but continue to the present or have an influence on it.

past perfect simple

The past perfect simple is formed using the simple past form of “to have” and the past participle (walk- walked-walked or speak-spoke- spoken ), e.g. B. We had shouted . A negative is evoked if a “not” is placed after the “had”: You had not spoken (short form: You hadn't spoken ). In order to form the question form, the "had" must be placed at the beginning of the sentence, e.g. B. Had he laughed?

It is used for actions that took place before some point in the past, as well as actions that emphasize the fact that something happened.

past perfect progressive

The past perfect progressive is formed using the simple past form of “to have”, the particle “been” and the present participle of the verb, such as You had been losing . The negation results from an insertion of a “not” before the “been”: I had not been crying . The question form is formed by preferring the "had": Had she been knocking?

It is used for actions that took place before some point in the past and actions in which the action itself or its duration should be emphasized.

Future

Like German, English has two future forms :

The Future I Simple , also Future Simple Tense, which corresponds to the German Future I , with its progressive form, the Future I Progressive
The Future II Simple , also Future Perfect Tense, which corresponds to the German Future II , with the progressive form, the Future II Progressive

Furthermore, the future tense I simple can also be expressed by the simple present, the present tense, if the action is a fixed and / or regular one, for example in timetables etc .: The train leaves at 9.30 pm

The same applies to the Future I Progressive, which in the future can be replaced by the present progressive in the case of already firmly agreed actions, such as Tonight we are watching a film .

The future I simple can be formed in two different ways:

with “will”, in the case of events that cannot be influenced, spontaneous decisions or assumptions.
with “going to”, with existing intentions and logical conclusions.

The will-future is formed by putting the “will” in front of the infinitive of the verb, e.g. B. She will go . A negative is achieved by inserting a “not” after “will”: We will not come . However, you can also write won't. In the question form, “will” is put in front: Will we fall? In Great Britain some people also use “shall” and “shall not” instead of “will” and “will not”, but only in the first person: “I shall be released” and “We shall overcome”.

The going-to-future is formed by putting the appropriate form of “to be” in front of “going to” and adding the stem (the infinitive without “to”) of the verb: She is going to watch TV . A negative can be evoked by inserting a “not” before the “going to”: We are not going to leave . If a question is to be asked, the form of “to be” must be put in front, e.g. B. Are they going to drink something? .

The Future I Progressive, on the other hand, can only be formed in one way: Here, the present participle of the verb must be preceded by “will be”, for example I will be eating . A negation is expressed by placing a “not” between “will” and “be”: She will not be fighting . A question is asked when you put “will” at the beginning of the phrase, e.g. B. Will you be dancing?

The Future I Progressive is used when it comes to actions that are currently taking place in the future and for certain or self-evident actions.

The future II simple is formed using a “will have” preceding the past participle of the verb, e.g. B. You will have done this . A negative is evoked if you insert a “not” before the “have”: He will not have cried . A question is signaled by dragging the “will” to the beginning of the sentence, such as Will we have read this?

The Future II Simple is used when it comes to actions that will already be completed in the future. In the UK, some people also use “shall” and “shall not” instead of “will” and “will not”.

The Future II Progressive is formed with “will have been” and the present participle of the verb, e.g. B. She will have been speaking . The negative form is created by inserting a “not” after the “will”: You will not have been dreaming . A question is asked by bringing “will” to the fore, for example Will you have been acting?

The Future II Progressive, like the Future II Simple, is used when the action has already been completed in the future, but it emphasizes the duration of an action.

Conditional and hypothetical statements (conditional clauses)

The conditional in English has the following forms:

Conditional I Simple, which corresponds to the German subjunctive II imperfect (e.g. he would do), with its progressive form, the Conditional I Progressive
Conditional II Simple, which corresponds to the German subjunctive II past perfect (e.g. he would have done), with its progressive form, the Conditional II Progressive

The Conditional I Simple is formed with the help of “would” and the root of the verb (the infinitive without “to”), for example He would speak . A negative is generated by inserting a “not” after the “would”: She would not hope . A question is asked if the “would” is prefixed, e.g. B. Would you prefer this? The Conditional I Simple is used for events that could possibly occur.
In addition to or instead of “would” (/ “wouldn't”), “could” and “might” are used along with negations (“couldn't”, “might not”).

The Conditional I Progressive is formed by putting the present participle of the verb after a “would be”: You would be sinking. A negative is caused by inserting a "not" before the "be", e.g. B. She would not be coming . A question is formulated when the “would” is put at the beginning, for example Would you be talking?

The Conditional I Progressive is used in the same way as the Conditional I Simple, but emphasizes the action or its duration.

The formation of the Conditional II Simple is done using "would have" and the past participle of the verb, e.g. B. He would have taken it. A negation of the statement is achieved by placing a “not” in front of the “have”, for example She would not have loved it. A question is asked by pulling the “would” ahead: Would you have liked this?

The Conditional II Simple is used for events that could possibly have occurred in the past. Sometimes “should” and “should not” are used instead of “would” and “would not”.

The Conditional II Progressive is formed by putting the present participle of the verb after a “would have been”: He would have been listening. A negative is achieved if you put a “not” in front of the “have”, e.g. B. They would not have been cracking it. A question can be asked by dragging the “would” to the beginning, such as Would you have been reading?

The Conditional II Progressive is used exactly like the Conditional II Simple, but emphasizes the action itself or its duration.

Possibilities of hypothetical statements (paradigms):

If + I do, I will do
If he comes back later, I will give my regards to him.

If + I did, I would do
If we lived in London, we would go to the theater regularly.

If + I had done, I would have done
If he had told me the truth, I would never have forgiven him.

If + I had done, I would do
If we had studied Chinese, we would have excellent prospects today.

If + I have done, I will do
Dear children, if you have all finished the exercise, we will have a look at it.

If + I had done, I would have been doing
If I had become a teacher, I would have been working with children for twenty years now.

If + I am doing, I will do
If she is really making a telephone call, I will not enter her office.

If + I had been doing, I would do
If I had been studying for eight years, I would be deeply dissatisfied.

If + I have been doing, modal auxiliary verb
If he has been studying Italian for five years, he should speak it more fluently and more idiomatically.

If + I was / were doing, I would do
If he were really working in the garage, I would hear some noise.

If + I had done, I would be doing
If the boy had hurt himself, he would be crying.

Passive (passive voice, passive)

The English passive voice is formed with the corresponding form of to be instead of the German are , otherwise the formation is comparatively similar.
There is only a progressive form in the simple present and in the simple past.

The formation of the simple passive forms provides that the object becomes the subject and moves to the beginning of the sentence, a form of "to be" in the tense of the main verb follows from the active and finally the main verb in the past participle (3rd . Form) follows:

Someone will teach the children. - The children will be taught .

The progressive form of the present is formed in the passive voice by adding a “being” and the past participle of the verb after the corresponding simple present form of “to be”, e.g. B.

He is being beaten.

The progressive form of the past in the passive voice behaves like that of the present in the passive voice, only the simple past form of "to be" is used:

He was being beaten.

Examples

I am driven (D) - I am driven (simple) - I am being driven (continuous)
I was listened to (D) - I was listened to (simple) - I was being listened to (continuous)

I 'm already gone been (D) - I have already been driven (simple) - (continuous omitted)

An infinitive construction ( NcI ) can be added to verbs of saying and opinion :

Cliff diving is said to be dangerous.

by-agent

In the passive voice in English, as in German, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence and vice versa. However, should the subject of the active sentence also be mentioned in the passive sentence - e.g. B. If the author of an action should be emphasized - the so-called by-agent is necessary.

When converting from active to passive clause, the active subject is preceded by a “by”: The king invited the queen becomes The queen was invited by the king.

Passive to other objects

Another special feature of the English language is that the passive can be formed not only from the direct (accusative) object, but also from the indirect (dative) object, whereby the existing accusative object remains unaffected:

He was given a push. I was told quite an interesting story.

Passive constructions can even be formed from prepositional objects:

The tunnel has been gone into. They have not been heard from yet.

literature

Friedrich Ungerer, Peter Pasch, Peter Lamparter: Learning English, basic grammar, edition for high schools, revision, textbook . Klett, 2001, ISBN 3-12-511501-9 .
Hans Brinkmann: Practice Avoiding Mistakes . Diesterweg (Moritz) Verlag, 1976, ISBN 3-425-04123-1 .
Mag. Claudia Lichentwagner: Smile English exercise book. (available for I., II., III., IV. class AHS / HS)
Hans G. Hoffmann, Marion Hoffmann: Great English learning grammar: rules, application examples, tests . Hueber, Ismaning 2001, ISBN 3-19-002657-2 .
Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, Svartvik: A comprehensive grammar of the English language. 15th edition. London 1999, ISBN 3-526-51734-7 .

Web links

Commons : English grammar - collection of images, videos, and audio files

Remarks

↑ The old second person singular, ie when the pronoun “thou” is used, forms forms to which -st is appended; “To be” uses “thou art” and more rarely “thou beest”. Furthermore, in ancient texts, still common in Bible style, a -th is added in the third person singular instead of the -s.
↑ The Simple Past or Past Tense corresponds in the Romance languages to the Spanish Pretérito indefinido or also the Pretérito perfecto simple as well as the French Passé simple and the it. Passato remoto .
↑ The English Past Progressive shows certain similarities with the Spanish Pretérito imperfecto and the French Imparfait .

Individual evidence

^ Dee L. Eldredge: Teaching spanish, my way. Xlibris LLC, 2014, ISBN 978-1-4931-2657-6 , p. 69.
↑ Verbbusters ( Memento of 20 March 2008 at the Internet Archive )
^ Wiktionary
↑ Evolution of the Irregular Verb

[thou-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Early New English made a distinction between the 2nd person singular and the 2nd person plural. Thou (with the inflected verb forms art, hast, lovest etc.) corresponded to the German 'du' and ye / you to 'ihr / dich'; as a polite form was ye / you like German you used. You can see this in a passage from Shakespeare's Hamlet :

Queen: Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended . "Hamlet, you hurt your father very much."

Hamlet: Mother, you have my father much offended . "Mother, you 've really hurt my father."

In New English, all of these 2nd person functions have coincided as you . Today you can only read thou in historical texts, for example in the King James translation of the Bible; B. "Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name ...".

[2] In the southern US some say y'all to appeal to groups. This is a contraction of you and all . Because of the political influence of the South and the pop culture influence of the African American people , y'all has become more popular in America, but its use is limited to the colloquial language. It is not used elsewhere; they say you guys (in most of the US) or you lot (in the UK ) instead .

[3] Whom is written and, especially in spoken language, elevated. Whom is sometimes considered out of date today.

[8] The old second person singular, ie when the pronoun “thou” is used, forms forms to which -st is appended; “To be” uses “thou art” and more rarely “thou beest”. Furthermore, in ancient texts, still common in Bible style, a -th is added in the third person singular instead of the -s.

[9] The Simple Past or Past Tense corresponds in the Romance languages to the Spanish Pretérito indefinido or also the Pretérito perfecto simple as well as the French Passé simple and the it. Passato remoto .

[10] The English Past Progressive shows certain similarities with the Spanish Pretérito imperfecto and the French Imparfait .

[4] Dee L. Eldredge: Teaching spanish, my way. Xlibris LLC, 2014, ISBN 978-1-4931-2657-6 , p. 69.

[5] Verbbusters ( Memento of 20 March 2008 at the Internet Archive )

[6] Wiktionary

[7] Evolution of the Irregular Verb

English grammar

contents

Sentence structure

See also individual topics on English syntax

Parts of speech

Nouns (nouns, substantives)

Plural

Genitive

Genera

items

Pronouns

Verbs

Progressive form

Irregular verbs

Auxiliary verbs & modal verbs (auxiliary verbs, auxiliaries)

be, have and do as auxiliary verbs

Modal verbs ("modal auxiliary verbs"; modal auxiliary verbs, modal auxiliaries, modal verbs)

ain't

Description with to do ( do support )

1) negation

2 questions

3) emphasis

Present tense

past

Simple past tense (past simple, simple past)

Past progressive

present perfect simple

present perfect progressive

past perfect simple

past perfect progressive

Future

Conditional and hypothetical statements (conditional clauses)

Passive (passive voice, passive)

Examples

by-agent

Passive to other objects

literature

Web links

Remarks

Individual evidence