III. SUBORDINATE CLAUSES.

(See § 24.)

§ 16. In subordinate clauses beginning with a relative pronoun, a relative conjunction, or a subordinative conjunction, =the verb= stands =at the end=; as—

+Man zeigte mir ein Buch, ~das~ viele schöne Bilder ~enthielt~.+

They showed me a book which contained many beautiful pictures.

+Wir waren im Zimmer, ~als~ er ~eintrat~.+

We were in the room when he entered.

§ 17. When the =verb= is in a =compound tense=, the =auxiliary= verb stands =last=; as—

+Nachdem sie ihn ~begrüßt hatte~, kam sie schnell auf mich zu.+

After she had welcomed him, she approached me quickly.

§ 18. When there are two verbs, one of which is a verb of mood, =the verb of mood stands last=; as—

+Er sagte, daß er nicht ~kommen könne~.+

He said that he could not come.

§ 19. When there are two verbs, the one being an infinitive, and the other an inflected verb, =the inflected verb stands last=; as—

+Der Sohn starb gerade zu der Stunde, in welcher sein Vater ihn ~wiederzusehen hoffte~.+

The son died the very hour his father hoped to see him again.

§ 20. When there are two infinitives and an auxiliary verb, the =auxiliary= verb has the =first= place, whilst the =governing infinitive= stands =last=; as—

+Er überlegte, wie er es ~werde vermeiden können~.+ (+können+ is the governing verb.)

He considered how he might be able to avoid it.

+Er sagte, daß er es nicht ~habe thun mögen~.+ (+mögen+ is the governing verb.)

He said that he did not like to do it.

§ 21. Sometimes the =conjunction=, which generally connects the subordinate clause with the principal clause, is =omitted= and understood. In this case the construction is like that of a principal clause; as—

+Er fürchtete, ~ich könne~ mich erkälten.+ (+Er fürchtete, daß ich mich ~erkälten könne~.+)

He was afraid I might catch cold.

§ 22. Sometimes the =auxiliary= verb is =omitted= and understood; as—

+Daß er mir ~genommen~ (wurde), ist mein größtes Leid.+

That he was taken from me is my greatest sorrow.

§ 23. =In subordinate clauses the prefixes of separable compound verbs are not separated from the verb=; as—

+Er war so beschäftigt, daß er in vierzehn Tagen nicht ~ausging~.+

He was so busy that he did not go out for a fortnight.

§ 24. A. The co-ordinative conjunctions—+~aber~+, +~allein~+, +~denn~+, +~nämlich~+, +~oder~+, +~sondern~+, +~sowohl — als~+, and +~und~+—serve to connect two or more independent statements with each other, which have either one common subject or predicate, or have each a subject and predicate of their own (co-ordinate clauses). =Co-ordinative conjunctions do not affect the regular order of construction explained in= §§ 1-12, and generally stand at the beginning of the co-ordinate clauses which they introduce; but +~aber~+ and +~nämlich~+ are often placed after the verb, and sometimes even stand in the middle of the clause; as—

+Die Frau war dem Manne früh gestorben; dieser ließ dem hinterlassenen Kinde ~aber~ jede mögliche Sorgfalt angedeihen.+

A subordinate clause, i.e. a clause dependent on another clause, without which it would not be understood, is joined to a principal clause by means of a relative pronoun, or a conjunction, which latter may be either a relative, a subordinative, or an adverbial conjunction. (See § 124 of Lange’s German Grammar.) The effect produced upon the construction by relative pronouns, relative conjunctions, and subordinative conjunctions has been explained in §§ 16-23.

B. =Adverbial conjunctions, like all other adverbial expressions commencing a clause, require the verb to stand before the subject=, as has been pointed out in § 124 of Lange’s German Grammar.

B. THE INDICATIVE MOOD.

§ 25. The Indicative Mood is the Mood of Actuality, whilst the Subjunctive Mood is the Mood of Possibility. The nature of the Indicative may be said to be objective, because it is used to express positive facts. The nature of the Subjunctive may be said to be subjective, because it represents the statement made as a mere subjective supposition, or as resting on the mere hearsay evidence of other persons.

=The Indicative Mood denotes Positiveness and Certainty.=

=Conjunctions never determine the mood in which a verb is to be used.= The mood is always determined by the nature of the statement we wish to make. So one and the same verb may be followed, in the dependent clause, either by the Indicative or the Subjunctive Mood.

EXAMPLES.

+Der Gefangene ~ist~ tot; er ~ist~ heute Morgen gestorben.+ (Positive statement.)

The prisoner is dead; he died this morning.

+Ich bin überzeugt, daß er es ~gesagt hat~.+ (Certainty.)

I am convinced that he has said it.

+Der Mensch ~ist~ sterblich.+ (A fact.)

Man is mortal.

+Ich habe gehört, daß er zum Minister ~ernannt ist~.+

I have heard that he has been appointed a minister, (and I do not doubt it).

(Here the Indicative Mood is used, because I wish to imply that I have no doubt about the accuracy of the statement.)

+Ich habe gehört, daß er zum Minister ~ernannt sei~+ (see § 30).

I have heard that he has been appointed a minister, (but I rather doubt it).

(Here the Subjunctive Mood is used because I wish to express a doubt about the accuracy of the statement, which is expressed in English by the words ‘but I rather doubt it.’)