Auxiliary verbs in compound tenses in Italian and German: A comparative study

Abstrakt

Auxiliary verbs in compound tenses in Italian and German:
A comparative study

The article is devoted to the problem of compound tense formation in Italian and German. In particular, the question of the choice of an appropriate auxiliary verb is discussed. The choice between the auxiliary verb avere/haben ‘to have’ and the auxiliary verb essere/sein ‘to be’ is based on some premises, such as the transitivity or intransitivity of the verb, but also on the kind of action that the verb conjugated expresses. In the present study we want to compare the rules of compound tense forms creation in the two languages in order to identify similarities and differences between these languages in this aspect. The present analysis is of particular importance for teachers of each of the two languages teaching students who learn them both or who are native speakers of either language learning the other one. The comparison of the rules of compound tense formation will render studying a foreign language easier, accelerating the acquisition of identical rules and allowing one to avoid errors committed due to the differences between the two language systems.