Modal Auxiliary Verbs (Mixed Tenses) / Werden as Auxiliary Without

Kapitel 17: Modal Verbs / Double Infinitives
GERST6320 (Sp 2014)
Modal Auxiliary Verbs (Mixed Tenses) / Werden as Auxiliary
Without a Modal Auxiliary:
Er arbeitet.
He works. (Present Tense)
Er arbeitete.
He worked. (Simple Past Tense)
Er hat gearbeitet.
He has worked. (Present Perfect Tense)
Er hatte gearbeitet.
He had worked. (Past Perfect Tense)
With a Modal Auxiliary:
Er muss arbeiten.
He must / needs to work.
(Present Tense)
• modal auxiliary (present tense) + infinitive
Er musste arbeiten.
He needed to / had to work.
(Simple Past Tense)
• modal auxiliary (simple past tense) + infinitive
Er hat arbeiten müssen.
He needed to / had to work.
(Present Perfect Tense)
• hat… müssen: present perfect of modal “müssen” (instead of “gemusst”)
• arbeiten: dependent infinitive
Er muss gearbeitet haben.
He must / needs to have worked.
(Present Perfect Tense)
• muss: modal auxiliary (present tense)
• gearbeitet haben: perfect infinitive (present perfect: haben gearbeitet)
Er hatte arbeiten müssen.
He had needed to work.
(Past Perfect Tense)
• hatte… müssen: past perfect of modal “müssen” (instead of “gemusst”)
• arbeiten: dependent infinitive
N.b. Past participles of modal verbs are used when the modal verb is the only verb in the
sentence, e.g. Du hast das gemusst: You had to do that. However, this is rare: modal
verbs are more often auxiliary verbs and are not usually the main verb of the sentence.
When combined with other verbs, the modal infinitive is used instead of the past
participle.
Try to distinguish between the verb(s) that express tense, and the dependent infinitive,
which describes the main action. Try to keep the dependent infinitive in its infinitive
form in English (to ---). You might not be able to express all of the grammatical
subtleties in your English translation. Keep in mind that the Simple Past and Present
Perfect Tenses often result in identical English translations.
Kapitel 17: Modal Verbs / Double Infinitives
GERST6320 (Sp 2014)
Future Tenses:
Er wird arbeiten.
He will work.
• werden (present tense) + infinitive
Er wird gearbeitet haben.
(Future Tense)
He will have worked.
(Future Perfect Tense)
• wird: auxiliary “werden”
• gearbeitet haben: perfect infinitive (present perfect: haben gearbeitet)
Er wird arbeiten müssen.
He will need to / have to work.
(Future Tense)
• wird… müssen: future tense of modal “müssen”
• arbeiten: dependent infinitive
Er wird gearbeitet haben müssen.
He will have had to have worked.
(Future Perfect Tense)
• wird… müssen: future tense of modal “müssen”
• gearbeitet haben: perfect infinitive (present perfect: haben gearbeitet)
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Without a Modal Auxiliary:
Er weiß diese Geschichte nicht. He does not know this story.
Er wusste diese Geschichte nicht. He did not know this story
Er hat diese Geschichte nicht gewusst. He has not known / did not know this story.
Er hatte diese Geschichte nicht gewusst. He had not known this story.
With a Modal Auxiliary:
Er kann diese Geschichte nicht wissen. He cannot know this story.
Er konnte diese Geschichte nicht wissen. He could not know this story.
Er hat diese Geschichte nicht wissen können. He could not know this story.
Er kann diese Geschichte nicht gewusst haben. He cannot have known this story.
Er hatte diese Geschichte nicht wissen können. He could not have known this story.
Future Tenses:
Er wird diese Geschichte nicht wissen. He will not know this story.
Er wird diese Geschichte nicht gewusst haben. He will not have known this story.
Er wird diese Geschichte nicht wissen können. He will not be able to know this story.
Er wird diese Geschichte nicht gewusst haben können.
He will not be able to have known this story.