Der Gebrauch des Präteritums in der luxemburgischen Schriftsprache: Eine Untersuchung über den Verben goen, kommen, soen, froen und denken

摘要

In present-day Luxembourgish, only eighteen basic verbs retain the preterit form. In all other verbs the perfect form has replaced the preterit form for past reference. Among the eighteen basic verbs, ten verbs almost always take the preterit form in referring to a past phenomenon, while the remaining eight verbs take either the preterit or the perfect form with no apparent semantic distinction. This article focuses on the usage of five of these eight verbs in the preterit form in contemporary Luxembourgish literature, specifically in children’s literature. The verbs under investigation are goen (go), kommen (come), soen (say), froen (ask) and denken (think). The main findings of the research are as follows: The preterit of kommen and soen is used quite frequently, while that of goen, froen and denken is only rarely used by the majority of authors. This research results may indicate the actual situation in everyday spoken language. Another possibility is that the use of the preterit has been standardized in written Luxembourgish.