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Practice
Exercises
Present
or Past Participle Choose whether the English expression is best translated
with a present or a past participle
Relativsätze
==> Erweiterte Adjektive 1 Turn the short relative clauses in this exercise
into extended adjectives
Relativsätze
==> Erweiterte Adjektive 2 Turn the longer relative clauses in this exercise
into extended adjectives
Deutsch
==> Englisch Choose the best translations for the extended adjectives
in this exercise
Gefräßige
[=voracious] Wundheiler Choose the best translations for the extended adjectives
in this article about a stunningly gross way of treating wounds that won't heal
easily.
Englisch
==> Deutsch Come up with extended adjectives to translate these Englsih
sentences
Participles
as Adjectives
| Present
Participle: |
kochen
==> kochend ==> |
das
kochende Ei |
the
boiling egg |
| Past
Participle: |
kochen
==> gekocht ==> |
das
gekochte Ei |
the
boiled egg |
Reminder/Warning
about Present Participles
Although the present
participle is the counterpart to the English -ing form, it is very
rarely used, except as an adjective in the manner described here. Thus you
should still ordinarily express -ing forms with the regular present or past
tense in German:
| Ich
gehe |
I
am going/I go; |
| Ich ging or
Ich bin gegangen |
I
went/I was going |
Note on Past Participles
Past participles
of intransitive verbs (verbs that cannot take an object--see the grammar terminology
handout for examples) have an “active” meaning as adjectives (if they
can be used as adjectives at all):
| der
angekommene Zug |
the
train that had arrived |
| die ausgeschlafene
Studentin |
the
well-rested student (the student who got enough sleep) |
| das gestorbene
Schaf |
the
dead sheep (the sheep that died) |
Past participles
of transitive verbs (which can take an object) have a “passive” meaning
as adjectives:
| das
verbrannte Schloss |
the
burned castle (the castle that was burned) |
| der verkaufte
SPAM |
the
SPAM that was sold |
| das getötete
Schaf |
the
sheep that was killed |
More Examples:
| das
sinkende Schiff |
the
sinking ship |
| das gesunkene
Schiff |
the
sunken ship |
| der sterbende
Tenor |
the
dying tenor |
| der gestorbene
Tenor |
the
dead tenor |
| die schlafenden
Hunde |
the
sleeping dogs |
die geschlafenen
Hunde |
[makes
no sense] |
das verlierende
Paradies |
[makes
no sense] |
| das verlorene
Paradies |
the
lost paradise |
| eine aussterbende
Kultur |
a
dying culture [dying out] |
| eine ausgestorbene
Kultur |
an
extinct culture [died out] |
Extended
Adjectives
[also called extended
participial modifiers = erweiterte Partizipialbestimmungen]
1. Adjectives
formed from participles can be extended quite freely by adding e.g. adverbs
(schnell, allerdings, genau, gern...) and prepositional phrases (von mir, mit
der Hand, unter dem Bett, ohne zu atmen, anhand eines Kalenders, trotz aller
Warnungen...) in front of the participle
| das sinkende
Schiff ==> |
das schnell
sinkende Schiff ==> |
das trotz
aller Bemühungen schnell sinkende Schiff ==> ... |
| the sinking
ship ==> |
the quickly
sinking ship ==> |
the despite-all-efforts-quickly-sinking
ship ==> ... |
| ein zerbrochener
Stift ==> |
ein von mir
zerbrochener Stift ==> |
ein von mir
aus Wut absichtlich zerbrochener Stift ==> ... |
| a broken pen
==> |
a by-me-broken
pen ==> |
a by-me-out-of-anger-purposely-broken
pen ==> ... |
2. To translate
an extended adjective into good English, use a relative clause and go backwards:
| ein (1) von
mir aus Wut (2) absichtlich (3) verlorener (4) Stift |
| a
(4) pen, (3) which was lost (2) on purpose (1) by me out of anger |
| das (1) trotz
aller Bemühungen (2) schnell (3) sinkende (4) Schiff |
| the
(4) ship, (3) which was sinking (2) quickly (1) despite all efforts |
3. A noun can
be modified by several adjectives, and this remains true if one or more of these
adjectives is an extended adjective. The extended adjective may precede or follow
the “unextended” ones:
| Der
schnelle, von meiner Mutter anlässlich meines Geburtstags gekaufte
Hund |
The
fast, by-my-mother-on-the-occasion-of-my-birthday-bought
dog |
| Der von meiner
Mutter anlässlich meines Geburtstags gekaufte, schnelle Hund |
4. Adjectives,
which describe nouns, take adjective endings.
Adverbs,
which describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, do not take endings.
Compare:
| Der
schnell laufende Hund |
The
quickly running dog |
| Der schnelle,
laufende Hund |
The
quick, running dog |
In the first case,
“schnell” refers to “laufen”: the dog is running--how?--quickly.
“Schnell” is thus an adverb, and takes no ending. In the second case,
“schnelle” and “laufende” both refer directly to the dog:
it is quick, and it is running. Hence both are adjectives and take adjective
endings.
Another example:
| Der von meiner
Mutter anlässlich meines Geburtstags gekaufte, schnelle
Hund |
| Der von meiner
Mutter anlässlich meines Geburtstags schnell gekaufte Hund |
The first dog
is quick, and was bought by my mother for my birthday; the second dog
was bought quickly by my mother for my birthday, and this dog may or
may not be quick.
5. Although extended
adjectives usually involve (present or past) participles, they need not do so,
as here:
| An
der Wand hing ein meiner Meinung nach ohne Zweifel sehr teures Bild |
On
the wall hung an in-my-opinion-without-a-doubt-very-expensive picture |
6. The combination
zu + present participle indicates that the action indicated by the verb
can be done, is to be done, or must be done. With an adverb
it indicates how the action is to be done.
| ...ein
noch zu bestimmender Redner... |
...a
still-to-be-determined speaker |
| ...das
links im Bild zu sehende Insekt... |
...the
insect that can be seen on the left side of the picture |
| ...eine
ernst zu nehmende Bedrohung |
...a
threat that must be taken seriously |
| ...eine
nicht zu missachtende Möglichkeit |
...a
possibility that cannot/must not be ignored |
More
Examples of Extended Adjectives
| Die
erst vor kurzem geöffnete Grenze wurde wieder geschlossen. |
The
border, which had been opened only recently (the only-recently-opened
border) was closed again. |
Barney aß das laut um Hilfe schreiende Kind. |
Barney
ate the child, which was screaming loudly for help (the loudly-for-help-screaming
child). |
| Barney
aß das laute, um Hilfe schreiende Kind. |
Barney
ate the loud child, which was screaming for help (the loud, for-help-screaming
child). |
| Zu
diesem Zweck wird die noch nicht vollkommen entwickelte Knospe geöffnet. |
For
this purpose the not yet fully developed bud is opened. |
| Die
soeben besprochenen Ergebnisse fasste Mendel in zwei Gesetze zusammen. |
Mendel
summarized the just discussed results in two laws. |
| Die
von einigen Astronomen vor Jahren beobachteten “Kanäle” auf
dem Mars waren eine Enttäuschung. |
The
canals on Mars, which were observed by some astronomers years ago (the by-some-astronomers-years-ago-observed
canals on Mars), were a disappointment. |
| Küchenschaben
und Schildkröten können unter den von Wissenschaftlern auf der
Erde simulierten atmosphärischen Verhältnissen des Mars überleben. |
Cockroaches
and turtles can survive under the atmospheric conditions of Mars, which
were simulated by scientists on earth (the by-scientists-on-earth-simulated
atmospheric conditions of Mars). |
| Von
dort sind sie auf schwer zu ergründenden Wegen in die ganze Welt gewandert. |
From
there they migrated into the whole world on paths which are difficult to
fathom [on difficult-to-fathom paths]. |
| Man
hat darin eine Analogie zu der vermutlich gleich unwahrscheinlichen, aber
nicht ganz und gar unmöglichen konvergenten Evolution von Intelligenz
gesehen (Note: "vermutlich gleich unwahrscheinlich" and "nicht
ganz und gar unmöglich" both modify "konvergente Evolution"
in this example. Neither of them involves a participle!). |
One
has seen in this an analogy to the convergent evolution of intelligence,
which is probably equally improbable, but not entirely impossible (the probably-equally-improbable-but-not-entirely-impossible-convergent
evolution of intell.). |
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