Anfangen (To Begin) German Verb Conjugations

Anfangen (To Begin) German Verb Conjugations Anfangen is a strong (irregular) verb that means to begin or start. As a strong verb, it doesnt follow a strict rule and you will need to memorize how it is conjugated in its different tenses.   In addition, the verb  anfangen  is a separable prefix verb. That means that its prefix (an-) separates when the verb is conjugated, even in its past participle form (angefangen). There are cases where the prefix does not separate. These include the infinitive form such as with modals in the future tense, in dependent clauses, and in the past participle (with ge-). While a separable prefix may seem confusing, keep in mind that it is like English verbs such as fill in, clear out, etc. The difference is that in English the second word can come either right after the verb or at the end of the sentence. In German, it usually comes only at the end of the sentence. Sample Sentences With the Separable-Prefix Verbanfangen, to begin, start Present Tense Wann  fangen  Sie  an? - When do you begin? Ich  fange  heute  an. - I start today. Present Perfect Tense Wann  haben  sie  angefangen? - When did they begin? Past Perfect Tense Wann  hatten  Sie  angefangen? - When had you begun? Past Tense Wann  fingen  wir  an? - When did we begin? Future Tense Wir werden wieder  anfangen. - We will begin again. With Modals Kà ¶nnen  wir  heute  anfangen? - Can we begin today? AnfangenPresent Tense -  Prsens Deutsch English Singular Present Tense ich fange an I begin/startI am beginning du fngst an you begin/startyou are beginning er fngt an sie fngt an es fngt an he begins/startshe is beginningshe begins/startsshe is beginningit begins/startsit is beginning Plural Present Tense wir fangen an we begin/startare beginning ihr fangt an you (guys) begin/startyou are beginning sie fangen an they begin/startthey are beginning Sie fangen an you begin/startyou are beginning Examples Using the Present Tense of Anfangen Wann fangen Sie an?When do you start? Die Vorstellung fngt um sechs Uhr an.The performance begins at six oclock. AnfangenSimple Past Tense -  Imperfekt Deutsch English Singular Simple Past Tense ich fing an I began/started du fingst an you began/started er fing ansie fing anes fing an he began/startedshe began/startedit began/started Plural Simple Past Tense wir fingen an we began/started ihr fingt an you (guys) began/started sie fingen an they began/started Sie fingen an you began/started AnfangenCompound Past Tense (Present Perfect) -  Perfekt Deutsch English Singular Compound Past Tense ich habe angefangen I have begun/startedI began/started du hast angefangen you have begun/startedyou began/started er hat angefangensie hat angefangenes hat angefangen he has begun/startedhe began/startedshe has begun/startedshe began/startedit has begun/startedit began/started Plural Compound Past Tense wir haben angefangen we have begun/startedwe began/started ihr habt angefangen you (guys) have begun/startedyou began/started sie haben angefangen they have begun/startedthey began/started Sie haben angefangen you have begun/startedyou began/started AnfangenPast Perfect Tense -  Plusquamperfekt Deutsch English Singular Past Perfect Tense ich hatte angefangen I had begun/started du hattest angefangen you had begun/started er hatte angefangensie hatte angefangenes hatte angefangen he had begun/startedshe had begun/startedit had begun/started Plural Past Perfect Tense wir hatten angefangen we had begun/started ihr hattet angefangen you (guys) had begun/started sie hatten angefangen they had begun/started Sie hatten angefangen you had begun/started

Lemuria the Ancient Roman Day of the Dead

Lemuria the Ancient Roman Day of the Dead The upcoming holiday of Halloween may  derive, in part, from the Celtic holiday of Samhain. However, the Celts weren’t the only ones to appease their dead. The Romans did so at numerous festivals, including the Lemuria, a rite that Ovid traced back to the very founding of Rome. Lemuria and Ancestor Worship The Lemuria took place on three different days in May. On the ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth of that month, Roman householders gave offerings to their deceased ancestors to make sure their ancestors didn’t haunt them. The great poet Ovid chronicled Roman festivals in his Fasti. In his section on the month of May, he discussed the Lemuria. Ovid alleged that the festival got its name from â€Å"Remuria,† a festival named for Remus, Romulus’s twin brother whom he killed after founding Rome. Remus appeared as a ghost after his death and asked his brother’s friends to make future generations honor him. Said Ovid, â€Å"Romulus complied, and gave the name Remuria to the day on which due worship is paid to buried ancestors.† Eventually, â€Å"Remuria† became â€Å"Lemuria.† Scholars doubt that etymology, however, instead of supporting the likely theory that Lemura was named for the â€Å"lemures,† one of the several types of Roman spirits. The Ceremony for Celebrating the Dead The Romans believed that there could be no knots present during the ceremony. Some scholars theorize that knots were forbidden to allow natural forces to flow properly. The Romans are known to take off their sandals, and walk in their bare feet while making a sign to ward off evil. This gesture is called mano fica  (literally fig hand).   They would then clean themselves with fresh water and throw black beans (or spit black beans from their mouth). Looking away, they would say, â€Å"These I cast; with these beans, I redeem me and mine. By throwing away beans and what they  symbolize or contain, ancient Romans believed they were removing potentially dangerous spirits from their home. According to Ovid, the spirits would follow the beans and leave the living be. Next, they would wash and bang together pieces of bronze from Temesa in Calabria, Italy. They would ask the shades to leave their home nine times, saying, Ghost of my fathers, go forth! And youre done. Its not black magic as we think of it today, which Charles W. King explains in his essay â€Å"The Roman Manes: the Dead as Gods. If the Romans even had such a concept, it would have applied to â€Å"invoking supernatural powers to harm others,† which doesnt happen here. As King observes, the Roman spirits in the Lemuria arent the same as our modern ghosts. These are ancestral spirits to be propitiated. They might harm you if you don’t observe certain rites, but they’re not necessarily inherently evil. Types of Spirits The spirits Ovid mentions aren’t all one and the same. One particular category of spirits is  the manes, which King defines as the â€Å"deified dead†;  in his Roman Gods: a Conceptual Approach,  Michael Lipka terms them â€Å"the venerable souls of the past.† In fact, Ovid calls the ghosts by this name (among others) in his Fasti. These manes, then, aren’t just spirits, but a kind of god. Such rituals as the Lemuria aren’t only apotropaic- representative of  a type of magic to ward off negative influences- but also  negotiate with the dead in different ways. In other texts, the interaction between the human and the manes is encouraged. Thus, the Lemuria provides an insight into the complexities of the ways the Romans regarded their dead.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   But these manes  arent the only sprits involved in this festival.  In Jack J. Lennon’s Pollution and Religion in Ancient Rome, he author mentions another kind of spirit invoked in the Lemuria. These are the  taciti inferi, the silent dead. Unlike the manes, Lennon says, â€Å"these spirits were labeled as harmful and malicious.† Perhaps, then, the Lemuria was an occasion to propitiate different kinds of gods and spirits all at once. Indeed, other sources say the gods worshippers placated at the Lemuria werent the manes, but the lemures or the larvae, which were often conflated in antiquity. Even Michael Lipka terms these different types of spirits â€Å"confusingly similar.† The Romans likely took this holiday as a time to appease all the ghost-gods. Although Lemuria isnt celebrated today, it might have left its legacy in Western Europe. Some scholars theorize that modern All Saints’ Day derives  from this festival (along with another ghostly Roman holiday,  Parentalia). Though that assertion is a mere possibility, Lemuria still reigns supreme as one of the deadliest of all Roman holidays.