Learn Hardcore German: Meine Freundin hat nicht kommen dürfen, weil sie noch eine Klassenarbeit schreiben musste. - My friend was not allowed to come because she still had to write a class test.

Meine Freundin hat nicht kommen dürfen, weil sie noch eine Klassenarbeit schreiben musste.

My friend was not allowed to come because she still had to write a class test.

Breakdown of Meine Freundin hat nicht kommen dürfen, weil sie noch eine Klassenarbeit schreiben musste.

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Questions & Answers about Meine Freundin hat nicht kommen dürfen, weil sie noch eine Klassenarbeit schreiben musste.

Why does the sentence use hat nicht kommen dürfen with two infinitives (kommen dürfen) at the end?

German uses a double infinitive construction when:

you have a modal verb (here dürfen)
and another main verb (here kommen)
and you put this into the present perfect (Perfekt).

The pattern is:

[subject] + haben/sein (conjugated) + ... + main verb (infinitive) + modal verb (infinitive)

So:

infinitives: kommen (to come), dürfen (to be allowed to)
auxiliary: hat (from haben)

Result: Meine Freundin hat nicht kommen dürfen.
Literally: My (female) friend has not be-allowed-to come.

You do not say hat kommen gedurft; with modals, the modal also stays in the infinitive in this structure.

Why is the auxiliary hat used and not ist, even though kommen normally uses sein in the perfect?

Normally:

kommen alone in the perfect: Sie ist gekommen. (She has come.)

But in hat nicht kommen dürfen, the modal verb (dürfen) is the one that gets the auxiliary, not kommen.

Rules:

Perfect of modal verbs (dürfen, können, müssen, sollen, wollen, mögen) uses haben.
When a modal + main verb appear together in the perfect, you:
- keep both verbs in the infinitive at the end
- choose the auxiliary according to the modal, not the main verb

So even though kommen would normally take sein, the whole construction uses haben because of dürfen:

Sie hat kommen dürfen. (She was allowed to come.)
Sie hat nicht kommen dürfen. (She was not allowed to come.)

Could you also say Meine Freundin durfte nicht kommen? Is there a difference?

Yes, Meine Freundin durfte nicht kommen is perfectly correct and very common.

Difference in practice:

Meine Freundin durfte nicht kommen
- Simple past (Präteritum) of dürfen
- Especially common in written German and in northern/standard usage
Meine Freundin hat nicht kommen dürfen
- Present perfect (Perfekt) with double infinitive
- Very common in spoken German, especially in southern regions, and often slightly more colloquial

In everyday conversation, both usually mean the same: My girlfriend/female friend was not allowed to come.

In a neutral written text, many people would slightly prefer durfte nicht kommen because it is shorter and stylistically smoother.

Why is nicht placed before kommen dürfen in hat nicht kommen dürfen?

In German main clauses, nicht usually appears:

before the verb phrase it negates
after the finite auxiliary (here hat)

Here, the verb phrase is the whole kommen dürfen, so we get:

auxiliary: hat
negation: nicht
verb cluster: kommen dürfen

So:

Meine Freundin hat nicht kommen dürfen.
= She was not allowed to come.

If you changed the position, you’d either sound wrong or strongly change emphasis:

*Meine Freundin hat kommen nicht dürfen. – ungrammatical in standard German.
Meine Freundin hat kommen dürfen, nicht bleiben. – here nicht would negate something else (e.g. bleiben).

Why is there no zu before kommen in hat nicht kommen dürfen?

Modal verbs in German (dürfen, können, müssen, sollen, wollen, mögen) normally take a bare infinitive, without zu:

Sie darf kommen. (not: darf zu kommen)
Sie muss lernen. (not: muss zu lernen)
Sie kann schwimmen. (not: kann zu schwimmen)

The same holds in the perfect with the double infinitive:

Sie hat kommen dürfen. (not: hat zu kommen dürfen)
Sie hat lernen müssen. (not: hat zu lernen müssen)

Why is the verb order schreiben musste in the weil clause?

In a subordinate clause introduced by weil, all verbs go to the end of the clause.

If there is:

only one verb: that verb goes to the end.
a modal + main verb: both go to the end, and the main verb (infinitive) comes before the conjugated modal.

Word order pattern in a weil clause with a modal:

weil
- subject + (other elements) + [infinitive] + [finite modal]

So:

Main clause: Sie musste noch eine Klassenarbeit schreiben.
Subordinate clause: ..., weil sie noch eine Klassenarbeit schreiben musste.

That’s why it is schreiben musste, not musste schreiben, in the weil clause.

Could I also say ..., weil sie noch eine Klassenarbeit hat schreiben müssen? Is that correct, and is there a difference?

Yes, ..., weil sie noch eine Klassenarbeit hat schreiben müssen is grammatically correct. It’s the perfect (Perfekt) of müssen with a double infinitive:

auxiliary: hat
infinitives: schreiben, müssen

Compare:

..., weil sie noch eine Klassenarbeit schreiben musste.
– simple past (Präteritum)
..., weil sie noch eine Klassenarbeit hat schreiben müssen.
– present perfect (Perfekt with double infinitive)

In many regions and styles:

Both forms can describe a past obligation.
schreiben musste sounds a bit simpler and often more natural, especially in writing.
hat schreiben müssen may sound a bit heavier, but is common in spoken German in some areas.

Semantically, in everyday use there is usually no real difference in meaning.

What does noch mean in weil sie noch eine Klassenarbeit schreiben musste?

noch can mean different things depending on context. Here, the most common readings are:

still (not yet finished):
- She had still a test to write, she hadn’t done it yet.
- Emphasis on the fact that the task was pending.
another / one more:
- She had another test to write (on top of previous ones).
- Emphasis on additional work.

Without more context, both are possible. In everyday school contexts, noch eine Klassenarbeit often means another test (there was at least one before), but still a test to write is also a natural interpretation.

What exactly is a Klassenarbeit, and how does it differ from Test or Prüfung?

Roughly:

Klassenarbeit
- Written test in school, usually longer and more important (e.g. 45–90 minutes).
- Often planned and announced in advance.
- Term is especially common in schools in Germany.
Test
- More general word, often for shorter or less important tests or quizzes.
- Used in schools but also in other contexts (medical test, driving test, etc.).
Prüfung
- More formal exam, often high-stakes (final exams, university exams, professional exams).
- Typically larger and more decisive than a Klassenarbeit.

In this sentence, Klassenarbeit clearly refers to a school written test.

Does meine Freundin always mean “my girlfriend” (romantic), or can it mean a female friend?

meine Freundin can mean either:

my girlfriend (romantic partner)
my (female) friend (non-romantic)

Meaning depends entirely on context and sometimes on how the person talks about her elsewhere.

Some hints:

If someone says mein Freund or meine Freundin without extra context, in everyday speech it very often means boyfriend/girlfriend.
To make it clearly non-romantic, people may say eine Freundin von mir (a female friend of mine) or add context (e.g. meine Schulfreundin, my school friend).

So in this sentence, it could be either; you would need more context to know which.

Why is it eine Klassenarbeit (with eine) and not ein Klassenarbeit?

Because Klassenarbeit is:

a feminine noun in German: die Klassenarbeit
in the accusative case as a direct object of schreiben

Feminine indefinite article:

Nominative: eine Klassenarbeit
Accusative: eine Klassenarbeit

So in sie musste noch eine Klassenarbeit schreiben, eine Klassenarbeit is a feminine accusative direct object, and its form is the same as the nominative.

In weil sie noch eine Klassenarbeit schreiben musste, what does sie refer to, and why is it sie?

In this sentence, sie refers back to meine Freundin from the main clause.

meine Freundin is feminine singular.
The corresponding pronoun in the 3rd person singular is sie.

So:

Main clause: Meine Freundin hat nicht kommen dürfen, ...
Subordinate clause: ..., weil sie noch eine Klassenarbeit schreiben musste.

Here sie = meine Freundin.