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German zu+infinitive? | ||
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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 4 13 June 2009 at 6:39pm | IP Logged |
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In German, how do you know when you have to use zu with the infinitive of a verb? I mean, some verbs don't need it, but some like tun do?
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| TheBiscuit Tetraglot Senior Member Mexico Joined 5733 days ago 532 posts - 619 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Italian Studies: German, Croatian | Message 2 of 4 13 June 2009 at 8:05pm | IP Logged |
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From another learner's point of view I find it helpful to separate clauses in German to know when to use it. So you want to say something like, 'I don't have time to see it today'. Separate them into I don't have time - Ich habe nicht die zeit and to see it today - es heute zu tun then put them together - Ich habe nicht die zeit es heute zu tun.
It kind of implies in order to where you wouldn't say it in English (for me). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| LanguageSponge Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5576 days ago 1197 posts - 1487 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Welsh, Russian, Japanese, Slovenian, Greek, Italian | Message 3 of 4 14 June 2009 at 2:31am | IP Logged |
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TheBiscuit's method of working out when to use "zu" with an infinitive is the best way I can think of working it out. This is one of the few parts of German grammar I find difficult to explain because I worked it out by making loads of mistakes and it eventually clicked after a bit of practice.
Perhaps it would be helpful if I wrote some sentences which need "zu" in them. Notice the comma in between the two parts of the sentence - this is what TheBiscuit means by separating the two parts out. Ich habe keine Zeit, meinem Bruder bei seinen Hausaufgaben zu helfen. Ich habe keine Lust, mich auf meine Prüfungen vorzubereiten. Mein Bruder hat sich entschieden, ins Kino zu gehen. Meine Eltern haben sich geweigert, mir mein Taschengeld zu geben. Weil mein kleiner Halbbruder sich jede Nacht weigert, sich die Zähne zu putzen, muss er eine Stunde früher ins Bett gehen. I'm sorry that I can't actually provide an explanation as to why you need "zu" in these sentences, but hopefully the examples will help you get a feel for when it's needed. Eventually, it will start to look and sound wrong if you omit it where it's necessary. Jack Edited by LanguageSponge on 14 June 2009 at 2:33am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| AvidLearner Hexaglot Newbie Germany Joined 5689 days ago 11 posts - 11 votes Speaks: German*, FrenchC2, EnglishC2, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish | Message 4 of 4 14 June 2009 at 3:22am | IP Logged |
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Most of the examples above are covered by the page "Infinitivkonstruktionen" (see: http://www.canoo.net/services/OnlineGrammar/Satz/Komplex/For m/Infinitiv.html).
Let us have a look at at modal verbs. Quite often, English and German are similar when it comes to using "to" and "zu". E: I can/should/must swim. D: Ich kann/sollte/muss schwimmen. E: You don't need to search any longer. D: Du brauchst nicht weiter zu suchen. However, sometimes English and German differ: E: I ought to/want to/am allowed to/would like to swim. D: Ich soll/will/darf/möchte schwimmen. There is indeed a simple rule regarding the "true" modal verbs of the German language (see: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modalverb), i.e. * müssen, * können, dürfen * wollen, sollen * mögen. Those verbs are never followed by "zu + Infinitiv" (at least directly, e.g. "Ich mag es, zu singen" is correct). Otherwise, the usage of "zu" seems to prevail. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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