The German Perfect

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

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2. Introduction

   • Renate Musan

   Pages 1-20

3. The Semantics of the Present Perfect

   • Renate Musan

   Pages 21-61

4. The Meaning Effects of the Present Perfect

   • Renate Musan

   Pages 63-107

5. Types of Temporal Adverbials

   • Renate Musan

   Pages 109-116

6. Interactions with Temporal Adverbials

   • Renate Musan

   Pages 117-135

7. The Contribution of Particular Adverbials

   • Renate Musan

   Pages 137-182

8. Temporal Subordinate Clauses, Conjunctions, and Matrix Clauses

   • Renate Musan

   Pages 183-239

9. On the Syntax of Temporal Adverbials

   • Renate Musan

   Pages 241-252

10. Conclusion

    • Renate Musan

    Pages 253-257

11. Back Matter

    Pages 259-275

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1. OUTLINE German has the three main perfect constructions which are illustrated in (1. 1). 1 In each of these constructions, the verb appears in the past participial form and is combined with an auxiliary - in this case, haben ('have'); other verbs form their perfect constructions with the auxiliary sein ('be'). 2 The auxiliary can then be com­ bined with a tense -Le. the present tense as in (Ua), the past tense as in (b), or the future tense as in (c). 3 (1. 1) a. PRESENT PERFECT: Die Eule hat die Schule verlassen. the owl has the school left b. PAST PERFECT: Die Eule hatte die Schule verlassen. the owl had the school left c. FUTURE PERFECT: Die Eule wird die Schule verlassen haben. the owl will the school left have As will shortly become clear, the present perfect is the most intricate of the perfect constructions in German. It has been investigated intensely in the past, with the result that today there is little doubt about what the core problems concerning its semantics are.

• Index
• Syntax
• Tempora
• adverbial
• aspect
• conjunctions
• interaction
• knowledge
• past tense
• perfect
• present
• present perfect
• semantic
• semantics
• syntactic

From the reviews:

"This book provides an in-depth overview of perfect constructions in German and offers an extensive account of their uses from the perspective of a formal semantic framework. It also considers many pragmatic factors as well as particular characteristics of German Syntax…A thorough conclusion, list of references, and index make this work a useful manual for (advanced) students and scholars."(Linde Roels, LANGUAGE, volume 81, issue 3, page 784, 2005)

• Humboldt-University, Berlin, Germany

  Renate Musan

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