Timeline for When, and why then, is "es" required with vergessen?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Feb 25, 2022 at 11:24 | comment | added | Carsten S | I feel like you want to know whether your sentence was wrong or very wrong, but how is that helpful? Where is the line between grammar and style for sentences which no native speaker would say? If your “vergessen” refers to something just mentioned you need an object, even if there is only one thing that it could refer to and you hence feel that it does not convey information. That’s just how we use the word. You can still make general statements like “ich vergesse schneller als früher”, which show that “vergessen” does not always need an object. | |
| Feb 24, 2022 at 22:03 | comment | added | user44591 | Now I am confused. Perhaps I have not given enough context. So I edited the question with more. Given the context it seems to me that there is enough there that "es" would not add anything. But you say that the correction to add "es" was, in fact, justified? It seems to come back to style, as to whether or not the speaker wishes to explicitly point to the forgotten item or leave it implied. Is this particular correction stylistic or is it concretely grammatical? Knowing that would greatly help me to use the verb. | |
| Feb 24, 2022 at 18:54 | comment | added | Carsten S | @user44591, I haven’t expressed myself well then. You can absolutely say “ich vergaß”, and it means “I forgot”, but imagine that English sentence without any context, not referring to anything in particular. | |
| Feb 24, 2022 at 15:20 | comment | added | user44591 | I do accept this answer as a better one. But whether one says, "I forgot things," or "I forgot it," seems to me to be a distinction without a difference. The main take-away for me from this explanation is that German is incapable of saying simply, "I forgot." German forces one to either say either, "I forgot things," or "I forgot it/a specific thing." But that would mean vergessen cannot be completely intransitive, which would correct Reverso's entry for it. Since I cannot locate a German authority to confirm this, I am grateful for the unique insight given. | |
| Feb 24, 2022 at 14:58 | vote | accept | user44591 | ||
| Feb 24, 2022 at 14:30 | comment | added | Raketenolli | This is the much better answer and should be the accepted one. (Not saying RDBury's is wrong) | |
| Feb 24, 2022 at 11:27 | comment | added | planetmaker | +1 well summarized | |
| Feb 24, 2022 at 10:10 | history | answered | Carsten S | CC BY-SA 4.0 |