Spryte Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 DH's German colleague has a question, and I don't have a proper, precise explanation for him. In hotels, he often sees signs that say, "Did you forget your [toothbrush, etc]? He wants to know why it is not, "Did you forgot your [etc]?" I gave him my explanation, but not sure it was adequate, or properly articulated. Can you state this simply and appropriately for him? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 (edited) Tell him that after "do " (including does, did) the infinitive of the verb is required. His problem may be that the construction of a similar sentence is different in German; they would construct the same question like "have you forgotten" in which case the verb would not be in the infinitive. (Show him some similar examples: "did you take" - whereas in German, the only equivalent would be "have you taken" did you go vs have you gone etc Edited October 17, 2012 by regentrude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelly in IL Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 Did you forget your toothbrush? Rewritten rod and staff style for diagramming... You did forget your toothbrush. Did forget is the correct form of the verb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted October 17, 2012 Author Share Posted October 17, 2012 Tell him that after "do " (including does, did) the infinitive of the verb is required. His problem may be that the construction of a similar sentence is different in German; they would construct the same question like "have you forgotten" in which case the verb would not be in the infinitive. (Show him some similar examples: "did you take" - whereas in German, the only equivalent would be "have you taken" did you go vs have you gone etc Thanks, that's exactly what I needed. I could not articulate the explanation, though I knew it was correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted October 17, 2012 Author Share Posted October 17, 2012 Did you forget your toothbrush?Rewritten rod and staff style for diagramming... You did forget your toothbrush. Did forget is the correct form of the verb. Thanks! I will pass that along, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 IIRC (from high school) German just transposes the subject and verb for questions. We're the silly ones adding extra words! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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