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German - gewesen with past participle

  Tags: Syntax | German
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beano
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 Message 1 of 4
17 January 2013 at 12:01am | IP Logged 
If you go to the bank in Germany and it is closed, you could say "die Bank war geschlossen" when you come
home.

Could you use gewesen instead of war and say die Bank ist geschlossen gewesen? I don't think I have ever
heard this construction in real life, but could it be used?
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Josquin
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 Message 2 of 4
17 January 2013 at 12:08am | IP Logged 
Yes, it's absolutely possible to say this. It's just another tense (present perfect instead of imperfect).
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Iversen
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 Message 3 of 4
17 January 2013 at 10:44am | IP Logged 
Yes, a different tense, and therefore also a different meaning. "Die Bank war geschlossen" refers directly to your experience when you stood in front of the bank and saw a handwritten notice on the door. Its current state is not relevant. "Die Bank ist geschlossen gewesen" gives an information in retrospect: the bank was closed for some hours, but now it is presumably open again.
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beano
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Speaks: English*, German
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 Message 4 of 4
17 January 2013 at 4:54pm | IP Logged 
Thanks for that guys. The ge-ge combination jarred with me but like you say, no reason why this sentence wouldn't work.


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