Hello everyone,
and welcome to our German Word of the Day. This time we’ll, finally… at long last :), have a look at the meaning of
lassen
Lassen is a very important verb and it’s very confusing. Sometimes it’s to let, sometimes it’s to leave, sometimes it’s something else. And sometimes is used for some kind of passive or something.
Oh and let’s not forget the prefix versions of lassen, for example the infamous verlassen which means to leave – except when YOU are trying to use it in a sentence. Then it’s usually wrong.
So… we have lots to talk about.
This is quite a huge topic, so we’ll split it in two parts. Part two will be completely dedicated to the various prefix versions of lassen. And today, in part one, we’ll look at lassen itself. And instead of getting tangled up with its main translations to let and to leave, we’ll actually find one core idea for lassen and see how its various uses relate to that.
And that includes this weird thing called Passiv-Ersatzform that you come across in B2 courses.
So… are you ready to dive in and become a master of “Lassening”?
Then let’s go :)
The origin of lassen is the almost unacceptably ancient Indo-European root *lē(i)-. This root carried an idea of to let go, to slacken but I think an image might capture it best:
think of letting the air out of a balloon. Pffffffffrrrrrrrrrrt… and you’re left with a flabby piece of rubber.
This root grew into a pretty large word tree with branches in many languages. In English for example, we have the direct brother of lassen, to let.
But also late and last are part of the family, and they’re are based on the idea of weak or slow travelling… low energy travelling if you will. Then, there’s also lax and lazy which mean that we don’t invest much energy into something, and to relax which is all about removing tension from a system. And tension is just a form of energy.
And this notion of little or no energy is actually really helpful for explaining lassen. If we make that into a verb, we could say “investing no energy into something” and that is kind of similar to the simple idea of
“not doing something”
That’s the core of lassen and as you’ll see now in our little tour, all the various uses of the verb are actually just different angles of that idea.
So let’s take a look.
lassen – the tour
And we’ll start with the core idea itself, because lassen is indeed often used as literally not doing something, as opposed to doing it. Think of it as the opposite of machen.
- “Mein Gott, deine Suppe ist ein Salzmonster.”
“Ja, ich glaube ich lasse das Kochen lieber.” - “My god, Your soup is a salt monster.”
“Yeah… I think I’m not gonna leave/stop/”not do” the cooking.”
- Eigentlich wollte ich heute Abend Fußball spielen gehen, aber ich glaube ich lass das lieber. Mein Knie tut weh.
- Originally I wanted to go play soccer tonight but I think I’m not going to do it. My knee hurts.
- Lass das!
- Stop that/Don’t do that!
- Lass es.
- Don’t do it. Don’t bother.
If you’re wondering about the difference between the last two… the es sounds less direct and focused (and harsh). You’d use the first if you kid was messing with your phone for example and the second if you’re friend, who recently broke up, ponders calling the ex again and you think it’s a waste of time (and energy).
Cool. So one aspect of lassen is the idea of not doing something. That’s pretty general, actually, and all the others are kind of a sub-group of that.
Like the next one: the idea of not changing something.
Or in other words: leaving things as they are.
This is can be used in the sense of not changing a state…
- Ich lasse das Bild, wie es ist.
- I leave the picture as it is.
- Lass mich in Ruhe!
- Leave me alone!
- Because the weather is so good, I’m leaving the window open while I’m out of the house.
- Weil das Wetter so gut ist, lasse ich das Fenster auf, während ich weg bin.
but also in a sense of not taking away…
- “Ich hab’ Eintopf gemacht. Willst du was?”
“Ne, ich muss los, aber lass mir was übrig.” - “I’ve made a stew. You want some?
“No, I gotta go, but leave some for me, please.”
- Maria mag Thomas, weil er ihr ihre Freiheiten lässt.
- Maria likes Thomas because he gives her her space.
… and it also works in combination with activities.
- Ich lasse meine Haare wachsen.
- I grow out my hair.
- Ich lasse meine Sachen überall in der Wohnung rumliegen.
- I leave my things lying all over the apartment.
And here, it actually seamlessly blends with the next aspect of lassen – the idea of not preventing something. AKA allowing for something. AKA to let. Because… you know… not doing something can totally mean not doing something against something.
To let has lost most of the aspects of lassen and has focused almost completely on the permission idea.
- Lass mich rein.
- Let me in.
- Mich hat heute im Supermarkt jemand vorgelassen…. voll nett.
- Someone let me go ahead in the supermarket line today… so nice.
- Ich lasse mich nicht verarschen.
- I won’t let people bullshit me.
As you can see in the last example, lassen does NOT need a zu, even though it’s not really modal verb. But English to let works EXACTLY the same, so this should feel natural.
What’s less natural are some of the more figurative uses of this lassen …
- Ich lasse das Glas fallen.
- I drop the glass.
I let the glass fall (lit.)
- Die Kritiken lassen auf einen guten Film hoffen.
- The reviews suggest it’s going to be a good movie.
The reviews allow hope for a good movie (lit.)
- Ich lasse mir die herablassende Art von meinem Chef nicht länger gefallen.
- I won’t let the condescending attitude of my boss “please” me any longer.(lit).
- I won’t take/accept the condescending attitude of my boss any longer.
(this must seem really odd but it’s very common. Maybe just take it as a fixed idiom)
- “Ich komme 5 Minuten zu spät.”
“Lass dir Zeit, ich bin eh noch nicht fertig.. - “I’ll be 5 minutes late.”
“Allow yourself some time… (lit.)”
“Take your time, I’m not ready yet anyway. ”
As you can see, to let is not a translation in these, but I think the core idea of permission is still pretty present.
And the two verbs line up again in the following, very common kind of statements:
- “Let‘s have a beer.”
- “Lass uns ein Bier trinken.”
This is about inviting and initiating, so it’s actually a call to PUT IN energy. And that doesn’t really seem to fit in with the base idea of not putting in energy. But if we think of it as a kind of “Allow the momentum.” then it fits perfectly.
The phrase isn’t as common in German as it is in English, but still, it’s pretty common and works with all kinds of verbs.
Including lassen itself :).
- Lass es uns lassen.
Yes, we really do say that :). And it brings us full circle to the beginning of our tour because it basically means
- Let’s not do it.
All right.
So this was our little tour along the different ideas that we can express with lassen. And I hope you could see that they actually aren’t that different but just different aspects of a base idea of not putting in energy.
Here’s a quick recap of the ideas we had so far:
- not doing something
- not changing (leaving, letting be)
- not preventing (letting)
- inviting (let’s go)
Note that There’s one idea that is completely missing: the idea of LEAVING in the sense of NOT STAYING.
That’s because it’s NOT a meaning of lassen. Instead, we need a prefix version for it.
But we’ll talk about those in part two.
For now, we’ll need to talk about one more aspect of lassen itself. One that doesn’t really seem to fit in with the rest.
“lassen” – like a boss
Take the following little dialogue.
Location: random kitchen in a shared flat.
Time: dinner party, the next morning:
“Thomas…. feel free to help with the dishes.”
“I appreciate the freedom to help, dude!” (heads for the PlayStation)
“Hey uhm… that’s actually not how I meant it.”
I think you all understood the problem in this little conversation. The first statement wasn’t about freedom of choice. This was a demand in disguise.
Many phrasings that talk about permission or opportunity (like may or could) can be used that way. And so it’s no surprise that lassen can do it, too.
- Emanuel lässt seine Praktikanten hohe Schuhe tragen.
This sentence can actually mean two things. One is that I allows them to wear heels. The other is that I have them wear them.
- Emanuel lets/has his interns wear heels.
In this case, it’s the first one. I would never make them wear heels. I mean, except this one time when they put too much sugar in my coffee… anyway, here’s a couple
- Der König lässt seine Diener kommen.
- The king calls for his servants./has his servants show up.
- Maria lässt Thomas warten.
- Maria makes Thomas wait.
And while these are about actually “making” something happen, this lassen is also used in a more toned down sense of getting a service.
- Am Freitag lasse mir die Haare schneiden.
- I’ll get a haircut on Friday.
- Ich lasse mein Fahrrad reparieren
- I’m having my bike repaired [by someone]
And this type of phrasing actually doesn’t sound bossy at all and it’s much less “demanding” than “have someone do something“.
And it’s really really really common, so let’s look at a few more examples.
- Ich lasse mir morgen die Fälle erklären.
- I’ll have someone explain the cases to me.
- Ich lasse mir die Rechnung bringen.
- I’m having the waiter bring the bill.(lit)
- Ich lasse mich morgen massieren.
- I’ll have someone massage me tomorrow…. sounds odd and demanding
- I’ll get a massage tomorrow… this is how the German sentence feels.
- Ich lasse mich scheiden.
- I’m getting a divorce.
- Kann ich mir Mandelmilch verschreiben lassen?
- Can I have almond milk prescribed to me? (lit.)
- Can I get a prescription for almond milk?
All right.
Now, we already have quite a bit of input but there’s one more thing I want to talk about, just because it ties in so well with all we’ve learned.
I am talking about what in textbooks and course is often referred to as
“Passiversatzform für Passiv mit Modalverb ‘können'”
which roughly translates to “Term that no German has ever heard of”.
Seriously, people usually do not know that term. It sure sounds very complicated and B2-ish, but it’s actually not difficult at all. Because it’s just a natural byproduct of using lassen with a self reference.
sich (nicht) lassen
Take this example:
- Das Einhorn lässt sich streicheln.
This means that the unicorn allows us to pet it. Or literally, it allows itself petting.
Okay, this example is nonsense of course, because unicorns HATE human hands on their fur.
But anyway, if we now change the example and use a mere object like a door and the verb to open, we get this:
- Die Tür lässt sich öffnen.
And this basically means that the door can be opened. And THAT’S why the German phrasing sich lassen is called Passiversatzform…. because it can replace a proper passive form with werden.
- Something can be done.
- Etwas kann gemacht werden.
- Etwas lässt sich machen.
The name Passiversatzform might sound a bit intimidating, but it’s nothing special. There’s always more than one way to express an idea and many languages have ways to express the notion of a passive without the grammatical passive.
Actually, I think it’s not very helpful to focus on that too much, though.
Take a look at these examples:
- Das Licht lässt sich nicht dimmen.
- You can’t dim the light./The light ain’t dimmable.
(these -able forms would be called Passiversatzform in German, too)
- The fly can’t be caught.
- Die Fliege lässt sich nicht fangen.
- Die Katze lässt sich nicht streicheln.
- The cat won’t let people pet it.
- Thomas lässt sich nicht aus der Ruhe bringen.
- Thomas can’t be fazed easily/isn’t easy to faze.
I mean… where does “can be done” (a grammatical passive) end and lets you do (not a passive) start? All these sentence are the exact same phrasing but would they all be called Passelaffufforms? No.
This sich lassen phrasing is really just the plain straight-forward allow-meaning of lassen combined with a self reference. And in certain contexts, this can express the same thing that a passive would express.
Here are a few more really common uses…
- Das lässt sich nicht mit Sicherheit sagen.
- That can’t be said for sure.
- Das lässt sich nicht ändern.
- That’s just how it is.
- Über Geschmack lässt sich (nicht) streiten.
- There is no accounting for taste.
- Das Ergebnis kann sich sehen lassen.
- Lit.: The result it can allow for itself to be seen (because it is good enough).
- The result is impressive.
Now, there are lots of common phrasings with lassen but if you have a question about one of them, we can always clear it up in the comments. For today, we’ve done enough, I think. And next time, in the second part, we’ll face the swarm. Dun dunn dunnn.
I can already see it in the distance. A dark menacing cloud. Prefixes. Many, many prefixes. But…. the cloud’s not here yet so… uhm… I guess we’ll have to wait for part two :).
Anyway, I hope you got a good impression of what lassen is used for, and more importantly, how it all connects. If you want to check how much you remember, just take the little quiz I will have prepared at some point… after the summer of 2020 is over probably :D.
If you have any questions about lassen so far or if you want to try out some examples just leave me a comment.
I hope you liked it and see you next time.
Find part two here:
The meanings of “lassen” – Part 2
Good afternoon
I am struggling to get my head around the word order here ( I am only an A1 so have pity)
I did think to have a browse through the comments to see if you had already answered ( couple of hours later) but didn’t find it
My first glance translation was that someone HAD LET YOU go ahead
I was expecting something alog the lines of ..
Ich habe Heute im Supermarkt jemand vorgelassen
Any advice would be welcome and thanks for your time
I’m not 100% sure what your confused about – is it the use of tense in English or the “mich” vs “ich” in German or the word order?
The subject in my sentence is “someone” – the person who let me skip ahead.
I am the direct object, so we need accusative. That’s why it is “mich”.
The thing with German word order is that it’s a lot more flexible than in English.
Those mean the same thing. In both of them, the subject is “jemand” and I am the one allowed to go forth.
Let me know if that’s what you were unsure about or tell me what you need help with :)
Well written!! Thx – to reinforce my understanding the following sentences :
Lass mich nicht luegen
Lass mich nicht vergessen
Have the notion of don’t let me…lie/forget
Yes, but the exact translation depends on context. It’s a bit different for each of the verbs.
Hallo – Beste Erklaerung von “lassen”, die ich je gelesen habe!! Das duale Konzept von Erlaubnis und Zwang war ausgezeichnet. Das hat wirklich geholfen, einen Satz wie diesen zu erklaeren, die ich gelesen habe:
Mein Vater hat mich das ganze Wochende ueber im Garten arbeiten lassen.
Und je nach Kontext koennte es in beide Richtung gehen- er gab mir die Erlaubnis oder er zwang mich im Garten zu arbeiten..
Nochmals vielen Dank fuer den tollen Artikel!!
Hey :)
Warum ist es manchmal “lassen mir” und manchmal “lassen mich”?
Das hängt vom Kontext und dem Rest des Satzes ab. Da gibt es nicht “die eine” Antwort.
Wenn du mir Beispiele gibtst, dann kann ich dir die erklären.
This blog is the greatest! I’m learning Deutsch in the most enjoyable, sensible, and organized fashion, by way of help through community support. Ich danke allen auf der ganze Welt. Viel zu genießen!
Viel Spaß :)!!
Wow, your lesson helped me very much. I’m constantly doing some exercises and now I’ve stumbled upon one, where I’m having some difficulties. I have 3 sentences here:
1) Die Eltern lassen die Kinder zu Hause bleiben. (Parents order/command kids to stay home)
2) Um wie viel Uhr hast du dich wecken lassen? (at what hour have you ordered/commanded to wake you up?)
3) Er hat sich überholen lassen. (He let (us/me) overtake him)
What would these sentences look like, if I would like to say:
1) Parents let their children stay home (picture a school day and children don’t want to go to school)
2) At what hour have you let (him/her/me) wake you up?
3) He ordered/commanded us to overtake him
?
Vielen Dank im Voraus!
Thankyou! another German mystery solved!
Freut mich zu hören :)
A quick question on the “let’s do something” Lassen. In one of your examples, you have “Lass es uns machen.” To me, that matches what we say in English, 3rd person “let” with “es” as a filler subject. But I’ve seen other sentences where it looks like one is speaking to Du, eg Lass uns machen or to Sie, Lassen Sie uns machen or Ihr, Lasst uns machen. Should I be conjugating for the person I’m speaking to? Or is it always “lass” no matter what? Thanks for your help. I love this blog !
Great question!
Yes, conjugating is generally a good idea. So when you talk to someone in formal register it is
– Lassen Sie uns….
although those instances will be rare, since this lassen-use is colloquial.
For one person it is
– Lass uns…
You can also use that for a group though. Only if you want to put extra emphasis on the group, you can use
– Lasst uns…
I don’t think I use that very often though.
hey! I just wanted to say that I use a lot of websites to learn German, but this one ist the best ever!
Cool, danke!! Das freut mich zu hören :)
hi!
your lessons are great !
Lassen is difficult but a lot of fun, if hurting your brain is fun.. it is!
it seems like to let / to allow in english is more straight ahead / less ironic than in german.. in one particular instance in english you wrote above, one does sense the irony of “permission via inaction” – namely ‘let him wait’ –
you translated it as “make him wait” … is that the same thing? kinda, yeah, i think. um…
devilish!
question:
how would you say “I dropped the glass on purpose” in German?
would you need to add an “absichtlich” to the “Ich lasse das Glas fallen.” to show intention?
In English, ‘I let the glass fall’ sounds like one took an active (or passive/aggressive) role in the dropping, along with gravity.
many thanks und
MfG
Lass es uns machen!! Das kligt ganz seltam für mich ich dachte dass man ” lass uns es machen” sagen sall.
Beides geht. Je nach Kontext passt das ein oder das andere ein bisschen besser, aber der Unterschied ist nicht so groß.
I’m super confused about the ‘lassen lieber’ expression. What’s the difference between ‘ich lasse lieber’ and ‘ich lass lieber’? Also does it mean I would rather do something or I’d rather not do something??
So the “lasse” vs. “lass” thing is coming from spoken German. People tend to skip the “e”-ending for the “ich-form (first person singular) and it is so common by now that actually putting the “e” there has a strange, serious vibe. That’s why if my example is a real world dialogue I do skip the “e” here, too. Anything else would be artificial.
As for the meaning… that depends on whether there’s a verb following
– Ich lasse das lieber (sein) (to be is skipped here)
This means that “I leave it be” in sense of “I’m not gonna do it”.
– Ich lasse das lieber reparieren.
This means that I’ll have someone repair it, so here, I do do something (have something repaired).
Let me know if that helps.
Danke!
Thanks for the amazing resource!
I have a few questions about the grammar with lassen, if you don’t mind.
Ich lasse mir (von jemandem) die Haare schneiden. (I get my hair cut from someone). Here the mir is a reflexive pronoun right? Similar to Ich putze mir die Zaehne? Does Ich lasse mir meine Haare schneiden also work? What happens if I eliminate the reflexive, like: Ich lasse meine Haare schneiden or Ich lasse die Haare schneiden? Does it still mean the same?
So if I say, Ich lasse meine Frau mir meine Haare schneiden (I let my wife cut my hair/I get my hair cut by my wife). Here I think meine Haare is Accusative and I thought meine Frau should be Dative (because it’s the indirect object right?) Shouldn’t it be meiner Frau then? Is this sentence the same as Ich lasse mir von meinem Frau meine Haare schneiden?
This sentence I can’t seem to analyse grammatically: Ich lasse meinen Freund mir all sein Geld schicken. Here meinen Freund is Akkusativ and it’s definitely also a direct object right?. Mir is the indirect object in dative. Or is it reflexive? What is all sein Geld grammatically here? It seems to be in Akkusativ but I can’t seem to understand how you can have two Akkusativ objects without a preposition or a conjunction.
Another example I saw, that got me confused:
Lass dich verwoehnen. (Let yourself be pampered!) So far so good.
Lassen Sie sich verwoehnen. Formal version of above.
Lassen Sie sich von uns verwoehnen. (Let yourself be pampered by us).
Lassen Sie uns sich verwoehnen. Does this work? And does it mean the same as above?
Goo questions.. so
– Ich lasse die Haare schneiden.
This is grammatically correct and we can assume who’s hair is being cut by context but… it’s simply not idiomatic. German likes to put in this self reference there. So yeah… it is totally the same idea as
– Ich putze mir die/meine Zähne.
– Ich wasche mir die/meine Hände.
– Ich kaufe mir ein Eis.
You can say “meine” but I usually don’t since the “mir” already implies whose hair or hands it is.
Now for the direct objects… you’re right. It’s very very rare to see two direct objects with a verb (only 5 or so verbs can do that). And you’re also right that we are looking at two direct objects in this sentence:
– Ich lasse meine Frau mir die Haare schneiden.
The thing is… we’re also having two verbs, so we’re dealing with one direct object each. My wife is the direct object for “lassen”, the hair is what’s cut so it’s the direct object for “schneiden”.
– Ich lasse mir von meineR Frau die Haare schneiden.
This is the same (note it’s meineR Frau not meinem) and it’s the better phrasing. The one where the “Frau” is the direct object sounds a little more like she’s just some service person.
– Ich lasse meinen Freund mir all….
Is the “mir” reflexive? Yes, whenever something is a self reference it’s called reflexive. Don’t get hung up on the term “reflexive verb” too much. It’s confusing (check out my post on that).
– Lass dich verwöhnen!
– Lassen Sie sich verwöhnen!
This is an order so in the du-form, there’s no “du”, just the self reference.
– Lassen Sie sich von uns… correct.
– Lassen Sie uns sich…. wrong
The last one is wrong because HERE you have two direct objects for “lassen”: “uns” and “sich”. You can only “let” one… either us or yourself. If you want to “let us” then the other “Sie” you need will be the direct object of “verwöhnen”
– Lassen Sie sich von uns…
– Allow yourself to be […] by us.
– Lassen Sie uns Sie verwöhnen.
– Allow us to pamper you.
Hope that helps :)
Love it! Herzlichen Dank!!!
Can I use lassen to be enthusiastically inspiring (in a way)?
LASS UNS UNSERE HAUSAUFGABEN MACH, LEUTE!
LET’S DO OUR HOMEWORK, GUYS!
With a smile of course
Basically, I just want to know if i can use “Lass uns” for “let’s”
lass uns hier bleiben
Lass uns gehen
lass uns anfangen zu arbeiten (Does this work?)
Thanks for the work and effort you put into these lessons! Super useful!
Yeah, that works perfectly and it’s very common. Oh, and in slang people tend to drop the “us”
-“Lass uns die Hausaufgaben machen.”
“Nee, lass lieber chillen.”
Lass es uns lassen.
Kann man einfach “Lassen wir das” sagen, ohne dass die Bedeutung sich ändert?
Hmmm… jein. Es gibt kleine Unterschiede.
– Lass es uns lassen.
Das klingt mehr wie ein Vorschlag. Man wartet auf eine Reaktion.
– Lassen wir das.
Das ist mehr wie eine Entscheidung.
– We’ll stop that here.
What about: I have my Friend send me all of his money.
Ich lasse meine Freund mir alle seines Geldes schicken? Or: Ich lasse mir von meinem Freund alle seines Geldes schicken.
Or
Ich kriege, mein Freund mir alle seines Geldes zu schicken
The most natural for me is:
– Ich lasse meinen Freund mir all sein Geld schicken.
the second one is okay too but the third is incomprehensible. If you want to use “kriegen” in this sense of “to get” you MUST have a “dazu” in there.
– Ich kriege meinen Freund dazu, mir all sein Geld zu schicken.
(see the post on “kriegen” for more details)
This means something slightly different than the lassen-version though. Lassen sounds very much like I tell/ask him to do it, while “dazu kriegen” sounds like you had to do a lot of convincing.
Wow, thanks so much! As usual, a job well done thoroughly explaining and unfolding the many complications of this word “lassen”, haha =). I get a lot more out of reading your blog than I do out of reading my German textbook -_-, why are textbooks so expensive again haha?!?! I just have a few more questions that reading over your post made me think of. My questions are in regards to formality differences, and extensions to the subjunctive and conditional.
What is the difference in formality/tone/perception/whatever between, for instance, “Die Fliege lässt sich nicht fangen” and “Die Fliege kann nicht gefangen werden”? Is one perceived as more stilted or arrogant than the other? When is the “lassen” construction preferred over the true passive?
Kind of a segue into my second question, how easily does the “lassen” construction lend itself to the subjunctive and conditional? So like, using “the fly can’t be caught” as an example, here is what my current working knowledge of German grammar tells me (please correct me if I’m wrong — I’m bound to be wrong haha, what follows is merely educated guessing haha =))
English
1) The fly can’t be caught
2) The fly could not be caught
3) The fly could not have been caught.
“Lassen” construction
1) Die Fliege lässt sich nicht fangen.
2) Die Fliege könnte sich nicht fangen lassen.
3) Die Fliege hätte sich nicht fangen lassen können.
True passive construction
1) Die Fliege kann nicht gefangen werden.
2) Die Fliege könnte nicht gefangen werden.
3) Die Fliege hätte nicht gefangen worden sein können.
Thanks so much for all your help and your posts =)!!!!!!
Good question :). I had to “feel” about it for a while but I think that
– Die Fliege lässt sich nicht fangen.
sounds more like a situational statement while
– Die Fliege kann nicht gefangen werden.
is a statement about that fly in general.
They overlap strongly though… it’s just a nuance.
As for the conditional… there’ve been a few comments with questions regarding the conditional and one mistake all learners do is taking an English sentence and trying to find one translation for it. That doesn’t work because most of the English forms are not clear.
– The fly could not be caught.
This could be two things:
– There is a chance that the fly cannot be caught.
– It was impossible to catch the fly.
Same for the other one
– The fly could not have been caught.
This can mean:
– There is a chance that the fly hasn’t been caught.
– It was impossible for the fly to have been caught.
That’s how they seem to me at least. The problem is that “could” (and most other English verbs) are not clear as to whether they express conditional or past. The German modals are. “Konnte” is past, “könnte” is present conditional. Another thing that complicates matters is that English modal verbs do not have a past tense conditional.
– Ich hätte kommen können.
This means that it was in my power to come but I didn’t and the past tense is put on “können” while English puts it on “come” and.
– I could have come.
– Die Fliege könnte sich nicht fangen lassen.
This is a correct sentence but I don’t think it means what the original was supposed to mean… or at least it doesn’t mean what I understand the original to mean.
– The fly might not let us catch it.
That’s what the German one means.
The point of all that being that, in the beginning until you get a feel for how the forms relate, it is best to take a simple German present tense statement and then add the aspects one by one using the German rules.
– Die Fliege lässt sich fangen. (present)
– Die Fliege hat sich nicht fangen lassen. (past)
This is likely version 2).
– Die Fliege hätte sich nicht fangen lassen können
This is correct but I don’t think that it means what 3) means.
– It was in the fly’s power to not let itself caught, but she did (let itself get caught).
Wow… I think, this is pretty disorganized, actually, sorry for that. Truth is, I cannot tell you exactly how to translate 3) because I do not know what exactly it means and in German verb frame work that can make a HUGE difference in the use of all those helpers.
I figured it might help if I write down all the option together with their meaning, so here we go:
– Die Fliege lässt sich fangen.
– Die Fliege kann gefangen werden.
– It is possible to catch the fly./there is a realistic chance for it.
– Die Fliege hat sich fangen lassen.
– Die Fliege wurde gefangen. (konnte gefangen werden is not clear)
– The fly was caught.
– Die Fliege könnte sich fangen lassen.
– Die Fliege könnte gefangen werden.
– The fly might/can be caught./ There is a slight chance for it.
– Die Fliege hätte sich fangen lassen.
– Die Fliege hätte gefangen werden können.
– There was a chance to catch the fly, but it was missed.
The conditional versions with lassen do lean a bit in the “allow”-direction… like the fly really “lets” us catch it.
As for “gefangen worden sein”… that has no equivalent with lassen, because “sich fangen lassen” is about “allowing for the process”, while “gefangen worden sein” is a result.
Hope that helps a bit further
Oh, English…
You’re right about the ambiguity of “could” etc., although there are definitely “default” meanings to a couple of the phrasings:
– The fly could not be caught.
Without any further contextual clues, I would understand this to mean simply that it was not possible to catch the fly. It could be conditional in some circumstances: “The fly could not be caught if it stayed on the ceiling (…but instead it’s buzzing around our heads, where it’s possible to catch it).” You just wouldn’t assume it’s conditional if you read it by itself. Without the “not” it’s more ambiguous, I think.
– The fly could not have been caught.
This definitely means “It was not possible for the fly to be caught.” If you want the “It is possible that the fly has not been caught” meaning, you’d say “The fly may not have been caught” or do a workaround like “It could be that the fly hasn’t been caught.” There’s no compact way to translate “Die Fliege hätte sich nicht fangen lassen können”; you’d have to make it “The fly could have avoided being caught” or something. You might hear “The fly could have not been caught” in spoken English, but it would be rather frowned upon.
Why isn’t “konnte gefangen werden” clear?
Because it can mean 2 things. First there is the literal meaning that talks about possibility
– Etwas konnte getan werden.
– There was a potential to do something.
For example:
– Im Schwimmbad konnte vom 10er gesprungen werden.
The other meaning takes it a step further and changes “there was a chance to do it ” to “it was done.
Especially in combination with passive, this is a standard newspaper sentence…
– Eine Katastrophe konnte verhindert werden.
It’s not about the possibility. It WAS prevented. They look very similar but they actually have a quite different feel to them.
Ah, right. I know I’ve seen that second type of example, but it’s always a little confusing for English speakers, because “can/could” just doesn’t work that way. We’ve given that second meaning to “be able to,” but either way it doesn’t work well with passive (which is part of why Anglophone students tend to be warned away from the passive voice).
– A catastrophe could be prevented.
Sounds completely conditional/future. A catastrophe could be prevented… if the authorities would just take the right precautions. Even with the fly example…
– The fly could be caught.
While it sounds far more like an indicative statement about the past, it’s saying nothing about whether or not the fly WAS caught. Maybe it’s faintly implied (how do you know the fly was catchable if nobody caught it?), but the verb as such just affirms possibility.
– Thomas was able to catch the fly.
This tells us that the fly was caught, but you really can’t make a passive statement with “be able to.”
“Können” is just a bit more robust than “can,” I guess.
Thanks a lot for this! These nuances are really useful because although I can understand English conditional sentences just fine, I cannot “feel” them out in a sterile environment. I’m obviously totally influenced by how it feels in German.
I think modal verbs is one of the instances where English is rather uptight. Like… if something is a modal verb then it’s a modal verb only, while in German there’s a clear trend to use them as normal verbs, too
– Wir können Autos. (colloquial)
– Ich will Pizza.
– Darf ich Eis. (childish)
– Ich mag Pizza.
– Ich soll Pizza (not used… yet)
– Ich muss nicht.
Gern geschehen!
It’s really helpful from my end to see how you process these things too – feels like access into German mental space. :)
Yeah, English really has non-modal verb phrases corresponding to a lot of its modal verbs…
– can = be able to
– may = be allowed to
– must = have (got) to
It all feels sort of messy to me when I think about it.
Yes, it’s really something you need to have a feel for… like… it’s “I must” but “I don’t have to”. For that I’m glad that they started with ENglish in 4th grade. You can just soak it up without worrying about rules too much and by the time you really start talking about grammar in school it’s already ingrained in your brain and just feels right.
I am taking a very simple course in German to learn more words and excerise my memory. The course is about remembering the infinitive forms of 172 german irregular verbs. Of course lassen and lesen are on that list. However with help from my husband I discovered that on of the verbs on the list is mis-spelled. (My husband had good grades in German at school and has a german mother). At that age I took Spanish instead.
I am so proud now that I ´d like to tell somebody.
Thank you for teaching grammar and putting words into context. That is very motivating. Sometimes I learn, sometimes I just enjoy comparing languages.
Which one was misspelled?
“Pfeifen ” as “preifen” Silly, it seemed guite ungeman.
Makes me think of “reifen” (ripen) more than “pfeifen”
Glad you like it :)
Hi! I was just discussing fallen lassen with my german husband and he says that it is NOT fallen gelassen in the perfect tense. Is this right?
He says “ich habe das Glas fallen lassen.” I would think that it is “ich habe das Glas fallen gelassen” Danke!
Your husband is correct. It’s hat fallen lassen.
According to canoo, the version with ge- is in principle not false, but it’s seldom used and I suppose for many Germans it will simply sound false.
http://www.canoo.net/services/OnlineGrammar/Wort/Verb/Finit-Infinit/Part2.html
I don’t know actually… I’d say the average German wouldn’t pick up on it in daily conversation
Well, it was only a supposition based on the rare usage (acc, to Canoo). Plus, Amanda’s husband did think it was wrong :)
That is a very good question, actually… Grateful Reader already pointed out that “fallen lassen” is considered correct here. I think I would say use either with a chance of 50- 50 in spoken. Generally, there is no ge-form when lassen combines with a helper/modal and another verb. But the “ge”-form is at its heart a marker for perfect… in sense of complete. Dropping a cup has a very definite effect… the cup is broken. This is so complete and obvious that it might be the reason why people do use “fallen gelassen” here as well… just because it sounds more like “It’s broken” and less a simple “here’s what I did”… I hope that made sense.