Wednesday, 30 November 2005

hang/hängen

Wednesday, 30 November 2005 18:34
pne: A picture of a plush toy, halfway between a duck and a platypus, with a green body and a yellow bill and feet. (Default)

You know how English has two different forms for the simple past and past participle of hang, one strong and one weak, depending on whether the meaning involves killing someone?

German also has a strong and a weak form for the preterite and past participle of hängen, but they're chosen according to whether the meaning is transitive (he hung the picture on the wall) or intransitive (the picture hung on the wall).

Never thought about that; I'd just have chosen the correct form for the correct meaning without realising that there are different forms with the same infinitive.

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pne: A picture of a plush toy, halfway between a duck and a platypus, with a green body and a yellow bill and feet. (Default)
Philip Newton

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