prepositions

Infinitive clause preceded by prepositional adverb

An infinitive clause which depends on a verb, noun or adjective followed by a preposition is often anticipated in the preceding clause by a PREPOSITIONALADVERB, i.e. the compound of da(r) PREPOSITION (see 5.5):

Er hatte oft davon geträumt,allein auf dieser Insel zu sein. He’d often dreamed of being alone on this island. Wir haben uns darüber gefreut,euch wiederzusehen. We were pleased to see you again. Wir sind dazu bereit,Ihnen darüber Auskunft zu geben. We’re prepared to give you information about this.

This prepositional adverb is most often included in written German, but in speech it is often dropped especially with many common verbs.

10.7 Infinitive clauses after prepositions

An infinitive with zu is used after a few PREPOSITIONS: (an)statt, außer, ohne and um. The preposition is placed at the beginning of the clause (forming the first part of a ‘bracket construction’, see 9.1) and the infinitive with zu at the end:

(an)statt … zu instead of

Er stand einfach da,(an)statt ihnen zu helfen. He just stood there instead of helping them.

A clause with the conjunction (an)statt dass is an alternative. The subject must be the same for both clauses in either construction:

If the subject of the clause is different from that of the main clause, the conjunction außer dass is used:

Er las Zeitung,(an)statt dass er das Auto reparierte. He read the newspaper instead of repairing the car.

ausser … zu except,besides

Was konnten wir tun, außer heftig zuprotestieren? What could we do except protest vehemently?

Ich habe nichts erfahren, außer dass sie abgereist ist. I couldn’t find anything out, except that she has gone away.