Bird?s~Eye View of Teutonic Grammar 299
our indirect object It cannot become the subject of the verb werden in a
passive construction Such verbs include seven common ones antworten
(answer), begegnen (meet), danken (thank), dienen (serve), folgen (follow),
gehorchen (obey), helfen (help) We have to use these verbs in the active
form, either by making the direct object of the English passive construc-
tion the German subject when the former is explicitly mentioned, or by
introducing the impersonal subject rnan> as in man dankte rmr fur meme
Diemte (I was thanked for my service = one thanked me for my ser-
vice) Reflexive substitutes are not uncommon, e g plotzhch offnete sich
die Tur (suddenly the door was opened) There is an alternative clumsy
impersonal construction involving the passive construction with the
indefinite subject es> e g es wurde mir gedankt Because of all these diffi-
culties, and because Germans themselves avoid passive constructions in
everyday speech, the beginner should cultivate tne habit of active state-
men £
Though it is true that the German verb hdben is always equivalent to
our have when it is used to signify past time, the converse is not true.
With many verbs a German uses the parts of sem (p 101). Verbs which
go with haben are all transitive, e g ich habe gegeben (I have given)-,
reflexive, e g. ste hat sich geschamt (she felt ashamed), and the helpers
sollen, konneuy wollen> lassen> e g er hat mcht kommen vootten (he did not
want to come) The German uses sein and its parts when our have is
followed by an English verb of motion, such as kommen (come), gehen
(go), reisen (travel), steigen (climb), e g ick bin gegangen (I have gone)
The verbs bleiben, weiden and sein itself also go with seins as illustrated
onp 298.
The present tense-forms of five English and German helpers are
derived from the past of old strong verbs They have acquired new
weak past tense forms They have singular and plural forms in both,
but no specific personal flexions of the thurd person singular present
can may shall will must
Sing kann mag soil will muss
Plur konnen mogen sollen wollen mussen
could might should would
Sing konnte mochte sollte wollte musste
Plur konnten mochten sollten wollten mussten
Though derived from common Teutonic roots the corresponding
English and German words do not convey the same meaning. For
reasons stated on p 151, this is not surprising. Below is a table to
show the correct use of these German helpers^ including also darf-