Breakdown of Die Reiter des Königs kamen geritten.
kommen
to come
der König
the king
reiten
to ride
der Reiter
the rider
Questions & Answers about Die Reiter des Königs kamen geritten.
Why does this sentence use the past participle geritten instead of the present participle reitend to mean 'riding'?
In German, the verb kommen combines with the past participle (Partizip II) of a motion verb to express how someone arrives. While English uses the present participle for this ('came riding', 'came running'), German uses the past participle (kamen geritten, kamen gelaufen).
Can I use this past participle structure with verbs other than kommen, like saying 'they went riding'?
No, this specific structure using a past participle to describe a manner of motion is unique to the verb kommen. If you want to say they went riding, you would use the infinitive instead: Sie gingen reiten.
What would this sentence look like in the spoken past (Perfekt) instead of the simple past (kamen)?
It would be: Die Reiter des Königs sind geritten gekommen. Because kommen is a verb of motion, it takes sein as its helping verb. Notice that you end up with two past participles right next to each other at the end of the sentence!
Is the genitive phrase des Königs common in everyday speech, or would Germans use von instead?