Triparic Word Order

Compound Verbs and Word Order

In addition to the tense auxiliaries, there are specialized verbs known as modal verbs which specify the modality of the main verb: do you want to do the thing? Must you do the thing? Can you?

Additionally, there are verbs which can stand alone, or can be linked with other main verbs to give a more complex meaning. In English, these are called catenative verbs. An example would be I tried to help them. Another would be I plan to go to the concert.

And you could combine modals, the perfect tenses, the passive voice, and catenative verbs to create some very complicated ideas: They had been allowed to try to help him. They were not able to plan to leave before Wednesday.

The rule in Triparic for determining word order in such complex situations is not too difficult to state, once you distinguish between a finite verb (one which takes a personal ending) and a non-finite verb (one which takes no personal ending, that is, an infinitive or participle).

The rule is then:

The finite verb occupies the second place in the clause. All the non-finite verbs are gathered at the end of the clause in the order of their semantic importance, from least significant to most significant.

Examples

Modal plus chain of infinitives

In the complicated example They had been allowed to try to help him, the order of the clause is determined thus:

1. First, we know that the words will be:
   • eng (they)
   • hadasch (had, 3rd person plural)
   • gedurfet (to be allowed, past participle, since we are saying had been allowed, so this is the past perfect tense of durfen)
   • proben (to try)
   • helfen (to help)
   • and erm (him).
2. Next, we identify the finite verb and put it in second place. The finite verb is the one marked for the person, so it is hadasch The sentence is now ... hadasch ...
3. Next, we gather up all the other verbs and put them in order of their semantic importance.
   • proben and helfen are linked as a chain, like catenative verbs in English, so they will go together as a pair: proben helfen.
   • gedurfet is the verb that is left, and it is describing the mode (being allowed) of the main activity (trying to help). Therefore it is less important than the main activity, and is placed before it, so that the main activity comes last, at the end of the sentence, where it carries more impact.
4. Therefore the set of all the non-finite verbs, in order, is gedurfet proben helfen. The sentence is now ... hadasch ... gedurfet proben helfen.
5. Finally, all that's left are the subject and the direct object, and in a declarative sentence, the subject occupies the slot before the verb, so we can now finish: Eng hadasch erm gedurfet proben helfen.

Another way to think through the order is to start with the finite verb and ask questions:

"They had." Had what?
"Had been allowed." Had been allowed what?
"Had been allowed to try." Had been allowed to try what?
"Had been allowed to try to help." Done: hadasch ... gedurfet proben helfen.

Passive perfect tense with a modal

Let's look at another example, a future perfect passive with a modal verb:

The man shall have been allowed to be seen by the king.

1. Our components are der mensch (the man), bä der könig (by the king), and the verbs around them. And we know that der mensch is the subject, so we know all of the sentence except the second slot (the finite verb) and the end (all the other verbs).
   • Der mensch ... bä der könig ...
2. We know that the finite verb is going to be 3rd person singular, since the subject of the sentence is the man.
3. Since the sentence is going to be future perfect, the finite verb is, in particular, the 3rd person singular future of haben: habret.
   • Der mensch habret bä der könig ...
4. Now we ask: "The man shall have what?" The immediate answer is "been allowed." That is the past participle of durfen.
   • Der mensch habret bä der könig gedurfet ...
5. "Shall have been allowed what?" The answer is "To be seen". That's the passive voice. So we know the next piece is sän ("to be"), and the final piece must be the passive participle of viden, which is bevidet ("seen").
   • Der mensch habret bä der könig gedurfet sän bevidet.