Page:A Danish and Dano-Norwegian grammar.djvu/131

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ETYMOLOGY.
117

jeg fandt, at han var etc.). Jeg bad ham komme, at komme or om at komme I asked him to come.

After lade to let, in the meaning of “to have” with a participle, “to cause to be done,” the Dano-Norwegian language uses infinitive with an object of its own, placed before the infinitive: jeg lod Huset bygge I had the house built; Generalen lod Forræderen skyde the general ordered the traitor to be shot.

228. The infinitive is used after prepositions, where in English the gerund is employed the Dano-Norwegian langauge having no gerund; any preposition may govern the infinitive; Ex. De gjorde ret i at sige det til ham you did right in telling it to him; jeg er kommen hid for at tale med Dem I came here to speak to you; jeg reiste til Markedet for at kjöbe en Hest I went to the fair to buy a horse; efter at have sagt Farvel gik han sin Vei (after) having bidden farewell he went away; det gaar langsomt med at faa samlet Pengene there is tardy progress in collecting the money; for at tjene Penge ofrede han sit gode Navn og Rygte in order to make money he sacrificed his good name and reputation.

229. The present participle cannot be used periphrastically with the verb at være, to be, as in English. I was just thinking about what to do must be rendered: jeg tænkte netop paa, hvad der var at gjöre. “The widow was mending the clothes of her youngest son,” must be rendered: Enken holdt paa at gjöre island sin yngste Söns Klæder. Note the use of the participle in the following sentences: han kom löbende he came running; han blev staaende he remained standing or: he came to a stand still. A second verb connected with such a participle by og, and, is not put in participial form but in the infinitive: han blev staaende