Breakdown of Sie ist im Bad ausgerutscht und hat sich verletzt.
sein
to be
sie
she
und
and
haben
to have
das Bad
the bathroom
im
in the (used with months) / in the (contraction of in + dem)
sich
oneself / himself / herself / themselves (reflexive pronoun)
verletzen
to injure
ausrutschen
to slip (lose one's footing)
Questions & Answers about Sie ist im Bad ausgerutscht und hat sich verletzt.
Why do we need both ist and hat in this sentence?
The two verbs form their perfect tenses differently. ausrutschen (to slip) expresses a sudden change of state or motion, so it requires sein (ist ausgerutscht). verletzen (to injure) takes a direct object (the reflexive sich), so it requires haben (hat verletzt). Because they rely on different helper verbs, you cannot drop the second auxiliary like you often can in English.
Why does sich come right after hat?
Pronouns prefer to be as close to the conjugated verb as possible. In this second half of the compound sentence, hat is the conjugated verb. The reflexive pronoun sich tucks in right behind it, which pushes the past participle verletzt to the very end of the clause.
How is the past participle ausgerutscht constructed?
The infinitive is ausrutschen, which is a separable verb. To form the past participle, the standard -ge- prefix is sandwiched exactly between the separable prefix aus- and the verb stem rutschen, giving us ausgerutscht.
Why is it im Bad (dative) rather than ins Bad (accusative)?
The preposition in is a two-way preposition. Even though slipping involves physical motion, the entire event takes place within a single fixed location. Since there is no movement from outside to inside the bathroom, we use the dative case. im is simply the mandatory contraction of in dem.
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