10. Verb Combinations-2

Word order in the present tense

The verb that remains in the infinitive is the one that takes the final position in a clause. It is thus separated from the conjugated verb in a main clause. Look at the following examples:

 

Ihr lernt einander kennen.

(You get to know each other.)

Gehst du heute Nachmittag spazieren?

(Are you going for a walk this afternoon?)

Die Katze bleibt einfach dort stehen.

(The cat just stands there.)

Meine Frau lässt den Schlüssel stecken.

(My wife leaves the key in the lock.)

But in a subordinate clause, the finite verb rejoins the infinitive in the final position, but this time it follows the infinitive. After the spelling reforms, the combination of verb is now no longer written as one word in a subordinate clause:

 

Wer weiß, ob ihr euch einmal näher kennen lernt?

(Who knows whether you will get to know each other better?)

Es freut mich sehr, dass du heute Nachmittag spazieren gehst.

(I'm very pleased that you are going for a walk this afternoon.)

Keiner weiß genau, warum die Katze einfach dort stehen bleibt.

(No-one knows for sure why the cat just stands there.)

Es ärgert mich, dass meine Frau den Schlüssel stecken lässt.

(It annoys me that my wife leaves the key in the lock.)

If some of these verbs are used in a figurative rather than a literal sense however, then they may be able to be written as one word when they occur at the end of subordinate clauses.

 

Wir sind stolz auf unseren Sohn, obwohl er auf dem Gymnasium wahrscheinlich sitzen bleibt / sitzenbleibt.

(We're proud of our son, although he'll probably have to repeat a year at grammar school.)

Erklären Sie mir, warum diese Uhr immer stehen bleibt / stehenbleibt.

(Please explain to me why this watch always stops.)