Extended modifiers – LEARN TO SPEAK GERMAN

Modifiers include those words that help to describe a noun or pronoun. Some modifiers are called adjectives. If an adjective follows a verb like sein (to be) or werden (to become), it is a predicate adjective. For example:

Der Mann ist alt. The man is old.
Sie wurde krank. She became ill.

Attributive adjectives

If the adjective stands in front of the noun, it is called an attributive adjective and in German it will have an ending, and that ending will be determined by gender, number, and case. For example:

Kennst du den alten Mann? Do you know the old man?
Sie besuchte ein krankes Kind. She visited a sick child.

If you think about it, attributive adjectives play about the same role as certain relative clauses in which a predicate adjective is used. For example:
Kennst du den Mann, der alt ist? Do you know the man who is old?
Kennst du den alten Mann? Do you know the old man?
Sie besuchte ein Kind, das She visited a child that is sick.
krank ist.
Sie besuchte ein krankes Kind. She visited a sick child.

The differences are the need for an ending on an attributive adjective and the need for a subject and verb in the relative clause. The use of an attributive adjective, therefore, is a bit more efficient and requires less time to say and less space to write.

Attributive adjectives can be extended somewhat by using other modifiers— adverbs—to define them. For example:
Sie hat einen ziemlich schnellen Wagen.
She has a rather fast car.
That’s a very important fact.
Das ist eine sehr wichtige Tatsache.

The modifiers in the example sentences above were extended by the adverbs ziem-lich and sehr. And, as you can clearly see, German and English function in the very same way when adverbs modify adjectives. By the way, that word extended will become important later on in this chapter.

Present participles

Present participles in German are formed quite simply. A -d ending is added to an infinitive. For example:
infinitive + d → present participle
disturbing störend
entsprechend corresponding
anregend stimulating

Notice that the absence or presence of an inseparable or separable prefix does not affect the for-mation of present participles. Present participles are translated into English using an -ing suffix.

Present participles can be used as adverbs or adjectives, and when they are used as adjec-tives, they function as predicate or attributive adjectives. Let’s look at some examples:

Sein Verhalten war sehr störend. His behavior was very disturbing.

Er machte einen störenden Lärm. He made a disturbing noise.
Sein letzter Roman war spannend. His last novel was thrilling.
Das soll ein spannender Film sein. That’s supposed to be a thrilling movie.

Just like other modifiers, present participles can be modified by adverbs (sehr störend)

Past participles

Past participles are used to form the perfect tenses. But just like present participles, they can also be used as adjectives:
(auxiliary omitted) + regular or irregular past participle = adjective
(hat) gekocht cooked
(hat) versprochen promised
(ist) angekommen arrived

Inseparable and separable prefixes affect the formation of a past participle. With inseparable prefixes, the past participle does not require an added ge- prefix, e.g., besucht (visited) and vergangen (past). With separable prefixes, the prefix is separated from the past participle by a ge- prefix (infix), placed between them, e.g., mitgebracht (brought along) and zugenommen (increased). Let’s look at some example sentences that use past participles as predicate and attrib-utive adjectives.

Er schien ganz gelassen. He seemed quite calm.

Er hatte eine gelassene Reaktion. He had a calm reaction.

Sie war gar nicht begeistert. She wasn’t enthusiastic at all.

Seine begeisterte Stimme war laut His enthusiastic voice was loud and shrill.

und schrill.

Extended modifiers

Just as attributive adjectives can replace a relative clause that contains a predicate adjective, so, too, can participles replace relative clauses. Look at the following example with adjectives:

das Haus, das klein ist the house that is small
das kleine Haus the small house

Compare that with the following examples, where participles replace the verbs in the relative clauses and the phrase that was previously expressed by the relative clause now precedes the noun that is modified:

das Haus, das an der Ecke steht the house that stands on the corner
das an der Ecke stehende Haus the house that stands on the corner
das Haus, das gestern zerstört wurde the house that was destroyed yesterday
das gestern zerstörte Haus the house that was destroyed yesterday

In both examples above the relative clause has been changed to an extended modifier, with the present or past participle acting as the modifier with the appropriate adjective ending. English does not use extended modifiers to the same degree as German, and German phrases that con-tain extended modifiers tend to be translated as relative clauses in English, as illustrated in the above examples.

der/die/das + participle + adjective ending
der + sitzend + -e
der vor der Tür sitzende Hund
the dog sitting in front of the door

Extended modifiers, especially those that are particularly long, tend to be used in formal

writing or might be heard in a scholarly speech. When used in casual conversation, they sound cumbersome and lofty and are generally avoided.

If an active verb in a relative clause is changed into an extended modifier, a present participle is used: der Mann, der singt = der singende Mann (the singing man). If the verb is passive, a past participle is used: das Lied, das gesungen wurde = das gesungene Lied (the song that was sung).

If the verb is a verb of motion or another verb that requires sein as its auxiliary, the tense of the participle is determined by the tense of the verb. For example:

der Zug, der gerade ankommt the train that is just now arriving

der gerade ankommende Zug the train that is just now arriving

der Zug, der schon angekommen ist the train that has already arrived

der schon angekommene Zug the train that has already arrived

If the verb is reflexive, the reflexive pronoun sich must be used with the participle:
der Mann, der sich schämt = der sich schämende Mann
Let’s look at a sentence with an extended modifier formed from the past participle bekannt. Notice how it can grow with the addition of modifiers and prepositional phrases:

Er ist Politiker. He’s a politician.

Er ist ein bekannter Politiker. He’s a well-known politician.

Er ist ein sehr bekannter Politiker. He’s a very well-known politician.

Er ist ein in Europa sehr bekannter He’s a very well-known politician in Europe.

Politiker.

Er ist ein bei Jugendlichen in Europa sehr He’s a very well-known politician among
bekannter Politiker. young people in Europe.

The English translation of this final sentence could contain a relative clause:
He’s a politician who is very well-known among young people in Europe.

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