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When do I use "zu" in German? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| shadowzoid Groupie United States Joined 5493 days ago 76 posts - 85 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian | Message 1 of 6 06 June 2009 at 5:50pm | IP Logged |
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In the sentence, "I would like to have the opportunity to see it", i would say "Ich mochte die Gelegenheit haben, es zu sehen". why is it "es zu sehen" and not just "es sehen" Doesnt "sehen" already mean "to see"?
and if i change it to "to do it", why is it "es zu tun" not "es zu teuer"? Edited by shadowzoid on 06 June 2009 at 6:47pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5576 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 2 of 6 06 June 2009 at 6:25pm | IP Logged |
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Simple. I assume that at one point we had a difference between the 'zu' that translates as 'to' and the 'zu' that translates as 'too'. But those two words became homonyms in German, probably before people tried to write them consistantly.
Maybe we also dropped the 'to/zu' in all constructions other than this one, and because of that 'zu' doesn't appear to be a part of the infinitive as it is in English. I can't however tell you the rules as when to use the infinitve with zu and when to use only the infinitive. There is no such form as 'tuer'. For this pattern you use 'zu + infinitive' - the form you'll see in your dictionary when you look up to do. Edited by Bao on 06 June 2009 at 6:55pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6719 days ago 4250 posts - 5710 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 6 06 June 2009 at 6:30pm | IP Logged |
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If you think of "zu" as "to", it might make a little bit more sense. Remember that even closely related languages don't match each other perfectly. You will encounter lots of sentences where this "zu+infinitive" act as an "attachment" to (or completion of) the main sentence.
http://www.canoo.net/services/OnlineGrammar/Satz/Komplex/For m/Infinitiv.html?lang=en http://www.nthuleen.com/teach/grammar/infinitivexpl.html http://www.deutschseite.de/grammatik/infinitiv_mit_zu/infini tiv_mit_zu.html 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Recht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5611 days ago 241 posts - 270 votes Speaks: English*, GermanB1 | Message 4 of 6 07 June 2009 at 12:18am | IP Logged |
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Don't use "zu" with the 6 modal verbs. Pretty easy to remember, and I learned it a few
months ago. Good stuff to know, oder gut zu wissen :) Edited by Recht on 07 June 2009 at 12:19am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6719 days ago 4250 posts - 5710 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 6 07 June 2009 at 12:59am | IP Logged |
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An addition: someplace I read that sentences with an indication of "in order to" take "zu", which makes sense in your example:
Ich möchte die Gelegenheit haben, es zu sehen - I would like to have the opportunity (in order to) to see it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| TheBiscuit Tetraglot Senior Member Mexico Joined 5733 days ago 532 posts - 619 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Italian Studies: German, Croatian | Message 6 of 6 07 June 2009 at 6:08am | IP Logged |
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I find it helpful to think of German sentences as a set of boxes in my head with, as in your example, 'I'd like to have the opportunity' in one box and 'to see it' in another. This way I know I need to do something in each 'box' to say it correctly in German, if that makes sense.
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