Word
Die Redner sind wütend, weil sie friedlich haben sprechen wollen.
Meaning
The speakers are angry because they wanted to speak peacefully.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Die Redner sind wütend, weil sie friedlich haben sprechen wollen.
sein
to be
haben
to have
sie
they
sprechen
to speak
Questions & Answers about Die Redner sind wütend, weil sie friedlich haben sprechen wollen.
Why does haben come before sprechen wollen instead of at the very end of the weil clause?
This is a special rule for this exact situation. Normally, a subordinating conjunction like weil pushes the conjugated verb to the very end of the sentence. However, when the clause ends in a double infinitive like sprechen wollen, the conjugated verb haben jumps right in front of the two infinitives instead of going after them.
Why is the word wollen used here instead of the past participle gewollt?
Normally, forming the perfect tense requires a past participle. But when a modal verb like wollen is combined with another verb's infinitive like sprechen, the modal verb changes into an infinitive too. This is what creates the double infinitive.
In the verb cluster haben sprechen wollen, why does sprechen come before wollen?
In a German double infinitive structure, the main action verb (sprechen) always comes right before the modal verb (wollen). Even though English says wanted to speak, German reverses this to speak wanted.
Is it common to use this complex double infinitive structure, or could I just use the simple past?
You can absolutely use the simple past here, saying weil sie friedlich sprechen wollten. In fact, native speakers usually prefer the simple past for modal verbs precisely because the double infinitive structure in the perfect tense can feel a bit bulky to say.