Appendix H: Worked Parsing Examples with Translations

This appendix provides fully parsed English sentences with translations into French, Spanish, German, Latin, and Greek. Each example includes commentary on how the languages handle the same meaning differently.

Example A

English: The frightened child quickly ran to his mother.

Structure: Simple sentence (subject + verb + adverbial prepositional phrase)

Translations

Notes: - French/Spanish: The possessive (sa/su) agrees with the possessed noun (mère/madre), not the possessor. In English “his mother” marks the child as male; in French/Spanish, sa/su madre tells us only that the mother is feminine. - German: The child (Kind) is neuter, so the possessive is seiner (genitive feminine, agreeing with Mutter). German adjective verängstigte takes weak ending after the definite article. - Latin: No article. Puer (boy) specifies male child. The perfect tense cucurrit corresponds to English simple past. - Greek: παιδίον (child) is neuter diminutive. The aorist participle φοβηθὲν (having been frightened) is passive, matching the English past participle used as adjective.

Example B

English: After the concert ended, we walked slowly through the park.

Structure: Complex sentence (adverbial clause + main clause)

Translations

Notes: - French: Uses passé composé with reflexive se terminer. After après que, the indicative is used (though subjunctive is increasingly common in modern French). - Spanish: Simple past (pretérito indefinido) in both clauses. Por indicates movement through a space. - German: The subordinate clause uses pluperfect (hatte geendet) to show the concert ended before the walking began — German is stricter about this sequence than English. Note verb-final order in the nachdem clause. - Latin: Postquam takes indicative. The passive perfect fīnītum est renders “ended.” Hortum (garden/park) — Latin lacks a precise equivalent for “park.” - Greek: Aorist tense throughout for completed past actions. διὰ τοῦ κήπου (through the garden) uses the genitive with διά.

Example C

English: The book that my professor recommended has finally arrived.

Structure: Complex sentence (main clause with embedded relative clause)

Translations

Notes: - French/Spanish: The relative pronoun que is invariable for direct objects. French uses passé composé for both verbs; Spanish mixes pretérito indefinido (recommended) with pretérito perfecto (has arrived). - German: Relative pronoun das agrees with Buch (neuter). The relative clause is set off by commas and has verb-final order. The perfect auxiliary hat comes at the end of its clause. - Latin: Quem (accusative masculine) shows the book is the object of commendāvit. No article needed. Possessive meus follows its noun for emphasis. - Greek: Relative ὅ (neuter nominative/accusative) agrees with βιβλίον. The perfect ἀφῖκται (has arrived) shows present relevance of a past action.

Example D

English: She told me that the meeting had been postponed.

Structure: Complex sentence (main clause + noun clause as direct object)

Translations

Notes: - French/Spanish: Straightforward translation with que introducing the subordinate clause. Pluperfect passive maintains the same tense relationship as English. - German: Dass-clause with verb-final order. The pluperfect passive (verschoben worden war) places all verbal elements at the end. - Latin: Uses accusative + infinitive construction for indirect statement — no conjunction that. Conventum (accusative) is the subject of the infinitive dīlātum esse (perfect passive infinitive). This is a key Latin construction with no direct parallel in English. - Greek: Also uses accusative + infinitive for indirect statement. τὴν σύνοδον (accusative) is subject of ἀναβεβλῆσθαι (perfect passive infinitive). The perfect infinitive indicates the postponement was already complete at the time of speaking.

Example E

English: Although everyone disagreed with him, the chairman refused to change his decision.

Structure: Complex sentence (concessive adverbial clause + main clause)

Translations

Notes: - French: Bien que always requires subjunctive — this is a grammatical rule, not a meaning choice. The imperfect subjunctive (fussent) is formal/literary; colloquial French would use present subjunctive (soient) even for past contexts. To express concession with indicative, French uses different conjunctions like même si. - Spanish: Aunque offers a choice: indicative presents the concession as fact (estaban — they were disagreeing, and I know it); subjunctive would present it as hypothetical (estuvieran — even if they were to disagree). Here the indicative confirms the disagreement actually happened. Se negó a (refused to) is reflexive. - German: Obwohl introduces a verb-final clause. The reflexive sich weigern (to refuse) is followed by infinitive with zu. - Latin: Quamquam takes indicative for a factual concession. Ab eō (from him) expresses disagreement. Suam (his own) is reflexive, referring back to the subject. - Greek: Uses a concessive participle construction: καίπερ + genitive absolute (πάντων… ὁμολογούντων — “although all not agreeing”). This participial construction is characteristic of Greek prose.

Example F

English: What really matters is how you treat other people.

Structure: Complex sentence with two noun clauses (subject and predicate nominative)

Translations

Notes: - French: Ce qui introduces the subject clause (neuter). The emphatic structure c’est… focuses the predicate. Les autres (the others) is more natural than a literal translation of “other people.” - Spanish: Lo que (neuter) introduces abstract concepts. A los demás — personal a before “the others” (people). Informal tú form (tratas) for “you.” - German: Generic man (one) instead of du (you) for general statements. Two noun clauses joined by ist. - Latin: Id quod (that which) introduces the subject. The indirect question quōmodo… tractēs uses subjunctive — Latin requires subjunctive in all indirect questions. - Greek: Relative ὅ (neuter) for “what.” The indirect question πῶς… μεταχειρίζῃ may use indicative or subjunctive; here indicative presents it as a general truth.

Example G

English: The old house on the corner, which has been empty for years, was finally sold yesterday.

Structure: Complex sentence with non-restrictive relative clause

Translations

Notes: - French: Au coin (at the corner) contracts à le. Depuis with present tense expresses duration continuing to now — “has been empty” becomes “is empty since.” - Spanish: Both pretérito perfecto (ha estado) and pretérito indefinido (fue vendida) appear, mirroring the English tense distinction. - German: Das relative pronoun agrees with Haus (neuter). Seit Jahren (for years) uses present tense steht for ongoing state — German, like French, uses present tense for duration up to now. - Latin: Quae (feminine, agreeing with domus). No passive for “was sold” — Latin uses the active vēnīit (it went for sale / was sold) or a different construction. The relative clause is restrictive in form but parenthetical in sense. - Greek: The repeated article ἡ… ἡ ἐπὶ τῇ γωνίᾳ (the… the one on the corner) is idiomatic Greek for attributive prepositional phrases. Aorist passive ἐπράθη (was sold).

Example H

English: If I had known about the problem earlier, I would have tried to help.

Structure: Complex sentence (past counterfactual conditional) Conditional type: Third conditional (past unreal)

Translations

Notes: - French: Past counterfactual uses pluperfect (si j’avais su) in the if-clause and conditional perfect (j’aurais essayé) in the main clause — parallel to English structure. - Spanish: The pluperfect subjunctive (hubiera sabido) or (hubiese sabido) in the if-clause. The conditional perfect (habría intentado) in the main clause. Some speakers use hubiera in both clauses. - German: Both clauses use pluperfect subjunctive (hätte gewusst, hätte versucht). The subjunctive II forms are identical to indicative pluperfect in form but function as counterfactual. - Latin: Pluperfect subjunctive in both clauses — this is the standard past contrary-to-fact conditional. Cōnātus essem is deponent (passive form, active meaning). - Greek: Past counterfactual uses aorist indicative + ἄν in the apodosis. The protasis has pluperfect ᾔδειν (I had known) or aorist. The particle ἄν marks the unreality.

Example I

English: Neither the manager nor the employees were satisfied with the outcome.

Structure: Simple sentence with compound subject Note: Verb agrees with nearer subject (employees → plural were)

Translations

Notes: - French: Ni…ni requires the expletive ne before the verb (but no pas). The adjective satisfaits is masculine plural, agreeing with the compound subject. - Spanish: Ni…ni with plural verb agreeing with the compound subject. Satisfechos (masculine plural) for mixed-gender or all-male group. - German: Weder…noch (neither…nor). Verb is plural. Zufrieden (satisfied) is invariable as predicate adjective. - Latin: Neque…neque with plural verb. The ablative ēventū is governed by the adjective contentī (satisfied with). No article needed. - Greek: οὔτε…οὔτε with plural verb. τῷ ἀποβάντι (dative) — the verb ἀρέσκομαι (be satisfied) takes the dative for the thing one is satisfied with.

Example J

English: Having finished her homework, the student went outside to play.

Structure: Simple sentence with participial phrase Note: The participial phrase’s understood subject is the student

Translations

Notes: - French: Perfect participle ayant fini mirrors English. Sortie agrees with feminine subject l’élève. Purpose infinitive jouer needs no preposition after verbs of motion. - Spanish: Habiendo terminado (having finished) — compound participle. Purpose expressed by a + infinitive after motion verbs. - German: German disfavours dangling participles. The sentence is restructured with a full nachdem (after) clause. Feminine forms (sie, ihre, die Schülerin) show the student is female. Um zu spielen expresses purpose. - Latin: Ablative absolute construction: pēnsīs cōnfectīs (the tasks having been completed) — the participle is passive, unlike English. Lūsum is the supine (a verbal noun in accusative), expressing purpose after a verb of motion. - Greek: The aorist participle τελέσασα (feminine, agreeing with μαθήτρια) has active voice — “having completed.” The future participle παίξουσα (about to play / in order to play) expresses purpose.

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