German Grammar Explained /
Infinitive sentences: Perfekt
Remember the infinitive sentences we have seen so far:
"normal" verbs
Ich freue mich, nach Hause zu kommen.
"trennbare" separable verbs
Schön, dich kennenzulernen.
two verbs
Hast du Lust, schwimmen zu gehen?
Creating infinitive sentences in German is as easy as in English.
Sure, but I don't know what that means.
Ok, imagine you bought a house last year and you want to say you are happy you did.
Let me try: Ich habe mich gefreut, das Haus zu kaufen.
Well, technically, you are saying you were happy in the past. Aren't you happy now, too?
Hold on... Ich bin froh, das Haus zu haben gekauft...
Hmmmmm...
haben kaufen...?
:/
gekauft haben...? Oh, come on!
So close!
Ich bin froh, das Haus gekauft zu haben.
I'm happy to have bought the house.
One more thing, pay attention to the verbs with SEIN:
habe gekauft | → | gekauft zu haben |
habe gesehen | → | gesehen zu haben |
bin gegangen | → | gegangen zu sein |
bin gekommen | → | gekommen zu sein |
... | | ... |