Breakdown of Er hat nicht mitkommen können, denn er hat das Auto in die Werkstatt bringen müssen.
er
he
in
in
haben
to have
das Auto
the car
nicht
not
bringen
to bring
können
can / to be able to
mitkommen
to come along
müssen
to have to, must
denn
because
die Werkstatt
the repair shop
Questions & Answers about Er hat nicht mitkommen können, denn er hat das Auto in die Werkstatt bringen müssen.
Why does the sentence use the infinitives können and müssen instead of the past participles gekonnt and gemusst?
This is the double infinitive rule. When a modal verb is used with another verb in the Perfekt tense, the modal verb drops its past participle form and stays in its infinitive form. So, instead of hat mitkommen gekonnt, we say hat mitkommen können.
Where do we place the verbs when using a double infinitive?
The conjugated helping verb (hat) takes the second position in the clause. Both infinitives go to the very end, with the main action verb (mitkommen or bringen) coming right before the modal verb (können or müssen).
Why doesn't the conjugated verb go to the end of the clause after denn?
The word denn (because) is a coordinating conjunction, which means it occupies position zero. The clause that follows it just uses normal main clause word order: the subject (er) is in position one, followed immediately by the conjugated verb (hat) in position two.
Why is it in die Werkstatt (accusative) instead of in der Werkstatt (dative)?
The preposition in is a two-way preposition. Because he is taking the car to a destination, we use the accusative case (die) to show movement. If the car were already parked inside the shop with no change of location, we would use the dative case (der).
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