Word
Hast du das Baby krabbeln und den Hund hüpfen sehen?
Meaning
Did you see the baby crawl and the dog hop?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Hast du das Baby krabbeln und den Hund hüpfen sehen?
du
you (informal singular)
und
and
der Hund
the dog
haben
to have
Questions & Answers about Hast du das Baby krabbeln und den Hund hüpfen sehen?
Why is the sentence using sehen at the end instead of the past participle gesehen?
This is the double infinitive rule in action. When non-modal verbs like sehen (to see), hören (to hear), or lassen (to let) are used in the Perfekt tense alongside another action verb, they drop their standard past participle (gesehen) and use their infinitive form (sehen) instead.
Does sehen apply to both krabbeln and hüpfen here?
Yes, the single sehen at the end of the sentence applies to both actions. You do not need to repeat it. The structure groups the objects and their actions together: das Baby krabbeln and den Hund hüpfen, followed by the shared verb sehen.
What is the word order rule for this double infinitive structure?
Just like with standard modal verbs in the Perfekt tense, the conjugated helping verb (hast) takes the second position, and both infinitives are pushed to the very end of the clause. The perception verb (sehen) always comes last, immediately after the action verbs (krabbeln and hüpfen).
Would I still use the infinitive if the sentence was just about seeing the baby, without the verb krabbeln?