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19.7.1 Exercise 1: Conjunctive, Conditional and Reported speech
Which of the following sentences are correct?
The conditional is only used in conditional clauses.
The reported speech always uses the conjunctive I as long as its form is not ambiguous.
In the reported speech the conditional can never occur.
The modal verbs have a conditional.
The third person singular is never ambiguous.
The conjunctive I is formed by appending the suffixes to the present stem of the verb.
The conjunctive II is formed by appending the suffixes to the past stem of the verb.
The stem for the conjunctive II for strong verbs is formed by changing the vowels of the past stem.
Within the conditional clauses three different types can be distinguished: Irrealis of the past, Irrealis of the present and Realis of the present.
According to the rule the conditional can always be used instead of the conjunctive I.
According to the rule the conjunctive II is used if the conjunctive I is identical to the present indicative.
According to the rule the conditional is used if the conditional II sounds strange or is identical to the imperfect.
It is very common to use the simple conjunctive of the verb sein.
The conditional of sein is never used because the conjunctive is not ambiguous and Germans do regularly use it (and know it quite well).
The conjunctive I is used for conditional clauses.
In English as well as in German the indicative is used for reported speech.
In German the tense of the introductory verb is not important.
In English the tense of the introductory verb is not important.
In German verbs of hope or insecurity can be used with indicative and with conjunctive.
In English as well as in German the condition in a Irrealis of the past is expressed with the conditional.
In German the Irrealis of the past can be formed with the conjunctive II in both parts of the sentence, the one containing the condition and the main clause.
A phrase of the type Realis of the present is formed with the indicative form.
Actions that occur before the point of the narrative are expressed with the compound conjunctive I or conjunctive II with orientation to the past.
Actions that occur at the same time with the narrative are formed with the simple conjunctive I or conjunctive II.
Actions that occur after the narrative are expressed with the compound conjunctive I or conjunctive II with orientation to the future.
Modal verbs and the verb sein do have a distinctive conjunctive I and conjunctive II. Still they can form a conditional if the emphasis is on the fact the action occurs after the point of speaking.
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