Breakdown of Die Frau will die Unterschrift nicht gefälscht haben.
die Frau
the woman
haben
to have
nicht
not
wollen
to want
die Unterschrift
the signature
fälschen
to forge
Questions & Answers about Die Frau will die Unterschrift nicht gefälscht haben.
I thought wollen means "to want". Why is it translated as "claims" here?
This sentence uses the subjective meaning of the modal verb wollen. When used this way, it expresses that the subject is making a claim about themselves, but the speaker is just reporting it and might doubt it. So, Die Frau will... means "The woman claims...".
Why do we use gefälscht haben at the end instead of just a regular past tense?
Modal verbs like will must be paired with an infinitive. To talk about an action that already happened in the past, we use the perfect infinitive, which is the past participle gefälscht plus the infinitive haben. It literally translates to "claims to have forged".
How would I say "The woman does not want to forge the signature"?
To express a lack of desire in the present, you would use the normal present infinitive instead of the perfect infinitive: Die Frau will die Unterschrift nicht fälschen. The past structure (gefälscht haben) is a strong clue that you are dealing with the subjective "claims to" meaning of wollen.
Why is nicht placed right before gefälscht haben?
The word nicht typically goes immediately before the specific element it negates. Here, it negates the entire alleged past action of having forged the signature, so it sits right before the verb cluster gefälscht haben at the end of the sentence.
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