German · B2 · Family moment
Giving sources their fair credit in German
Help your child take pride in careful research and giving sources fair credit. Use perfect infinitive complements to look back on completed actions while expressing a present belief, hope, regret or feeling.
What you'll learn
- Discuss whether sources have been acknowledged and ideas expressed independently.
- Build perfect infinitives with Partizip II + zu haben or zu sein.
- Show that a research action happened before the attitude or claim expressed in the main clause.
German phrases for giving sources their fair credit
Ich glaube, diesen Satz zu wörtlich übernommen zu haben.
I think I have copied that sentence too closely.
Zu wörtlich übernommen means the wording follows the source too closely. Übernommen zu haben places the copying before the present belief.
Ich bin froh, den Originalartikel gefunden zu haben.
I am glad to have found the original article.
The finding happened first; the gladness is the present response.
Glaubst du, jede Quelle angegeben zu haben?
Do you believe you have named every source?
Eine Quelle angeben is the natural expression for identifying or citing a source. The person addressed is also the person who cited the sources.
Ich bereue, die Seitenzahl gelöscht zu haben.
I regret having deleted the page number.
Gelöscht zu haben presents the deletion as earlier than the regret.
Ich bin erleichtert, überprüft zu haben, wer das geschrieben hat.
I am relieved to have checked who wrote this.
Überprüft zu haben marks the checking as completed before the feeling of relief.
Ich glaube, schon einmal auf diese Behauptung gestoßen zu sein.
I think I have come across that claim before.
Auf etwas stoßen means to come across something and takes sein: gestoßen zu sein.
Ich freue mich, die Idee in meinen eigenen Worten erklärt zu haben.
I am pleased to have explained the idea in my own words.
Erklärt zu haben makes clear that the explanation is already complete.
Ich hoffe, den Unterschied zwischen Tatsache und Meinung deutlich gemacht zu haben.
I hope I have made the difference between fact and opinion clear.
Hoffen can look back on a completed action. Deutlich gemacht zu haben expresses hope about what has already been explained.
Hear these phrases and practise them
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Try it free for 7 daysKey words
die Quelle, die Quellen
source
Eine Quelle angeben means to identify or cite a source.
der Originalartikel, die Originalartikel
original article
The original text rather than a summary or someone else's account.
die Seitenzahl, die Seitenzahlen
page number
A useful detail for helping readers locate borrowed information.
die Behauptung, die Behauptungen
claim; assertion
Something presented as true, which may still need checking.
die Tatsache, die Tatsachen
fact
A useful partner for Meinung when discussing evidence.
die Meinung, die Meinungen
opinion
A person's view or judgment.
der Unterschied, die Unterschiede
difference
Einen Unterschied deutlich machen means to make a difference or distinction clear.
in eigenen Worten
in one's own words
Useful when discussing how to explain a borrowed idea independently while still crediting its source.
Looking back with a perfect infinitive
Use Partizip II + zu haben or zu sein to place an action before the attitude or claim in the main clause. The main clause can express a belief, hope, regret or feeling. The construction marks relative time: the action is earlier, even if the main clause itself is in the past.
| Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Present belief about an earlier action | glauben + … + Partizip II + zu haben | Ich glaube, jede Quelle angegeben zu haben. |
| Present feeling about an earlier action | froh sein + … + Partizip II + zu haben | Ich bin froh, den Originalartikel gefunden zu haben. |
| Past feeling about an even earlier action | war froh + … + Partizip II + zu haben | Ich war froh, den Originalartikel gefunden zu haben. |
Choosing haben or sein
Choose the same auxiliary that the verb uses in the Perfekt. Put zu immediately before haben or sein, after the past participle. Most verbs in this unit take haben; auf etwas stoßen takes sein.
| Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| With haben | gefunden / gelöscht / erklärt + zu haben | Ich bereue, die Seitenzahl gelöscht zu haben. |
| With sein | gestoßen + zu sein | Ich glaube, auf diese Behauptung gestoßen zu sein. |
| Placement of zu | angegeben zu haben, not zu angegeben haben | Glaubst du, jede Quelle angegeben zu haben? |
Who did it, and is it already done?
In these complements, the understood subject of the infinitive is the main-clause subject: Ich hoffe, … erklärt zu haben means that I did the explaining. No second subject is stated. The perfect infinitive explicitly looks back; a simple infinitive does not mark the action as earlier. Separate these expanded infinitive complements from the main clause with a comma.
| Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Completed action | hoffen + erklärt zu haben | Ich hoffe, die Idee klar erklärt zu haben. |
| Action not marked as earlier | hoffen + zu erklären | Ich hoffe, die Idee klar zu erklären. |
| Same understood subject | du glaubst + … + angegeben zu haben | Du glaubst, jede Quelle angegeben zu haben. |
More examples
Ich bin froh, die Quelle wiedergefunden zu haben.
I am glad to have found the source again.
The source was found before the present feeling of gladness.
Ich glaube, bei meiner Recherche auf diese Behauptung gestoßen zu sein.
I think I came across this claim during my research.
Gestoßen zu sein uses sein and places the encounter before the present belief.
Ich hoffe, alle Quellen in meinen Notizen festgehalten zu haben.
I hope I have recorded all the sources in my notes.
The hope concerns research notes that have already been made.
Ich bin stolz darauf, die Idee in meinen eigenen Worten erklärt zu haben.
I am proud to have explained the idea in my own words.
The perfect infinitive connects present pride with an earlier achievement.