Breakdown of Der Nachbar will die Unterschrift des Täters gesehen haben.
haben
to have
sehen
to see
wollen
to want
der Nachbar
the neighbor (male)
der Täter
the perpetrator, the culprit
die Unterschrift
the signature
Questions & Answers about Der Nachbar will die Unterschrift des Täters gesehen haben.
Why does will translate to "claims" here instead of "wants"?
This is the subjective use of the modal verb wollen. When used this way, it expresses that the subject is making a personal claim about themselves, which the speaker might doubt or is just reporting. Instead of saying the neighbor "wants" to see it, it means he "claims" to have seen it.
Why do we have both gesehen and haben at the end of the sentence?
Because will is a modal verb, it pushes the second verb to the end of the sentence in the infinitive (dictionary) form. To talk about an action that the neighbor claims already happened in the past, we use a "perfect infinitive": the past participle (gesehen) plus the infinitive of its helping verb (haben).
Why is it des Täters and not der Täter?
This is the genitive case, which indicates possession (the equivalent of an English 's or "of the"). For masculine nouns like der Täter, the article changes to des and we add an -s to the end of the noun. So, die Unterschrift des Täters means "the signature of the perpetrator" or "the perpetrator's signature".
If we are reporting a claim, could we use soll instead of will?
You can, but it completely changes who is making the claim! If you say Der Nachbar soll ... gesehen haben, you are using the subjective sollen (hearsay). This means other people are claiming that the neighbor saw it. By using will, it means the neighbor is the one making the claim about himself.
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