Erweiterte Adjektive [Extended Adjectives]
| Practice Exercises | |
| Participles as Adjectives | Extended Adjectives |
| More Examples of Extended Adjectives | |
Practice Exercises
Present or Past Participle Choose whether the English expression is best translated with a present or a past participle
Relativsätze ==> Erweiterte Adjektive 1 Turn the short relative clauses in this exercise into extended adjectives
Relativsätze ==> Erweiterte Adjektive 2 Turn the longer relative clauses in this exercise into extended adjectives
Deutsch ==> Englisch Choose the best translations for the extended adjectives in this exercise
Gefräßige [=voracious] Wundheiler Choose the best translations for the extended adjectives in this article about a stunningly gross way of treating wounds that won’t heal easily.
Englisch ==> Deutsch Come up with extended adjectives to translate these English sentences
Participles as Adjectives
| Present Participle: |
kochen ==> kochend | das kochende Ei | the boiling egg |
| Past Participle: |
kochen ==> gekocht | das gekochte Ei | the boiled egg |
Reminder/Warning about Present Participles
Although the present participle is the counterpart to the English –ing form, it is very rarely used, except as an adjective in the manner described on this page. Thus you should still ordinarily express -ing forms with the regular present or past tense in German:
| Ich gehe | I am going/I go; |
| Ich ging or Ich bin gegangen | I went/I was going |
Note on Past Participles
Past participles of intransitive verbs (verbs that cannot take an object–see this grammar terminology page for a few examples) have an “active” meaning as adjectives (i.e. if they can be used as adjectives at all):
| der angekommene Zug | the train that had arrived |
| die ausgeschlafene Studentin | the well-rested student (the student who got enough sleep) |
| das gestorbene Schaf | the dead sheep (the sheep that died) |
Past participles of transitive verbs (which can take an object) have a “passive” meaning as adjectives:
| das verbrannte Schloss | the burned castle (the castle that was burned) |
| der verkaufte SPAM | the SPAM that was sold |
| das getötete Schaf | the sheep that was killed |
Some examples contrasting present and past participles:
| das sinkende Schiff | the sinking ship |
| das gesunkene Schiff | the sunken ship |
| der sterbende Tenor | the dying tenor |
| der gestorbene Tenor | the dead tenor |
| die schlafenden Hunde | the sleeping dogs |
| [makes no sense] | |
| [makes no sense] | |
| das verlorene Paradies | the lost paradise |
| eine aussterbende Kultur | a dying culture [dying out] |
| eine ausgestorbene Kultur | an extinct culture [died out] |
Extended Adjectives
[also called extended participles=erweiterte Partizipien, or e.g. erweiterte Partizipialattribute]
1. Adjectives formed from participles can be extended quite freely by adding e.g. adverbs (schnell, allerdings, genau, gern…) and prepositional phrases (von mir, mit der Hand, unter dem Bett, ohne zu atmen, anhand eines Kalenders, trotz aller Warnungen…) in front of the participle
| das sinkende Schiff ==> | das schnell sinkende Schiff ==> | das trotz aller Bemühungen schnell sinkende Schiff ==> … |
| the sinking ship ==> | the quickly sinking ship ==> | the despite-all-efforts-quickly-sinking ship ==> … |
| ein zerbrochener Stift ==> | ein von mir zerbrochener Stift ==> | ein von mir aus Wut absichtlich zerbrochener Stift ==> … |
| a broken pen ==> |
a by-me-broken pen ==> | a by-me-out-of-anger-purposely-broken pen ==> … |
2. To translate an extended adjective into “proper” English, use a relative clause and go backwards:
| ein (1) von mir aus Wut (2) absichtlich (3) zerbrochener (4) Stift |
| a (4) pen, (3) which was broken (2) on purpose (1) by me out of anger |
| das (1) trotz aller Bemühungen (2) schnell (3) sinkende (4) Schiff |
| the (4) ship, (3) which was sinking (2) quickly (1) despite all efforts |
3. A noun can be modified by several adjectives, and this remains true if one or more of these adjectives is an extended adjective. The extended adjective may precede or follow the “unextended” ones:
| Der schnelle, von meiner Mutter anlässlich meines Geburtstags gekaufte Hund | The fast, by-my-mother-on-the-occasion-of-my-birthday-bought dog |
| Der von meiner Mutter anlässlich meines Geburtstags gekaufte, schnelle Hund |
4. Adjectives, which describe nouns, take adjective endings.
Adverbs, which describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, do not take endings.
Compare:
| Der schnell laufende Hund | The quickly running dog |
| Der schnelle, laufende Hund | The quick, running dog |
In the first case, “schnell” refers to “laufen”: the dog is running–how?–quickly. “Schnell” is thus an adverb, and takes no ending. In the second case, “schnelle” and “laufende” both refer directly to the dog: it is quick, and it is running. Hence both are adjectives and take adjective endings.
Another example:
| Der von meiner Mutter anlässlich meines Geburtstags gekaufte, schnelle Hund |
| Der von meiner Mutter anlässlich meines Geburtstags schnell gekaufte Hund |
The first dog is quick, and was bought by my mother for my birthday; the second dog was bought quickly by my mother for my birthday. This second dog may or may not be quick.
5. Although extended adjectives usually involve (present or past) participles, extended adjectives can also be formed without participles:
| Der “Merlion” ist eine von weitem deutlich sichtbare Statue im Hafen von Singapur. | The “Merlion” is a from-far-away-clearly-visible statue in the Singapore harbor. |
| Trotz ihrem für die meisten Menschen extrem unangenehmen Geruch hat die Durian einen für viele unwiderstehlich guten und einzigartigen Geschmack. | Despite its for-most-people-extremely-unpleasant odor, the durian (fruit) has a for-many-irresistibly-good and unique taste. |
| Die “Supertree Grove” in den “Gardens by the Bay” ist eine meiner Meinung nach besonders einzigartige Sehenswürdigkeit Singapurs. | The “Supertree Grove” in the “Gardens by the Bay” is an in-my-opinion-especially-unique sight in Singapore. |
6. The combination zu + present participle indicates that the action indicated by the verb can be done, is to be done, or must be done. With an adverb it indicates how the action is to be done.
| …ein noch zu bestimmender Redner… | …a still-to-be-determined speaker |
| …das links im Bild zu sehende Insekt… | …the insect that can be seen on the left side of the picture |
| …eine ernst zu nehmende Bedrohung | …a threat that must be taken seriously |
| …eine nicht zu missachtende Möglichkeit | …a possibility that cannot/must not be ignored |
More Examples of Extended Adjectives
| Die erst vor kurzem geöffnete Grenze wurde wieder geschlossen. | The border, which had been opened only recently (the only-recently-opened border) was closed again. |
| Barney aß das laut um Hilfe schreiende Kind. | Barney ate the child, which was screaming loudly for help (the loudly-for-help-screaming child). |
| Barney aß das laute, um Hilfe schreiende Kind. | Barney ate the loud child, which was screaming for help (the loud, for-help-screaming child). |
| Zu diesem Zweck wird die noch nicht vollkommen entwickelte Knospe geöffnet. | For this purpose the not yet fully developed bud is opened. |
| Die soeben besprochenen Ergebnisse fasste Mendel in zwei Gesetze zusammen. | Mendel summarized the just discussed results in two laws. |
| Die von einigen Astronomen vor Jahren beobachteten “Kanäle” auf dem Mars waren eine Enttäuschung. | The canals on Mars, which were observed by some astronomers years ago (the by-some-astronomers-years-ago-observed canals on Mars), were a disappointment. |
| Küchenschaben und Schildkröten können unter den von Wissenschaftlern auf der Erde simulierten atmosphärischen Verhältnissen des Mars überleben. | Cockroaches and turtles can survive under the atmospheric conditions of Mars, which were simulated by scientists on earth (the by-scientists-on-earth-simulated atmospheric conditions of Mars). |
| Von dort sind sie auf schwer zu ergründenden Wegen in die ganze Welt gewandert. | From there they migrated into the whole world on paths which are difficult to fathom [on difficult-to-fathom paths]. |
| Man hat darin eine Analogie zu der vermutlich gleich unwahrscheinlichen, aber nicht ganz und gar unmöglichen konvergenten Evolution von Intelligenz gesehen (Note: “vermutlich gleich unwahrscheinlich” and “nicht ganz und gar unmöglich” both modify “konvergente Evolution” in this example. Neither of them involves a participle!). | One has seen in this an analogy to the convergent evolution of intelligence, which is probably equally improbable, but not entirely impossible (the probably-equally-improbable-but-not-entirely-impossible convergent evolution of intelligence). |