Hi Agorans!

I’ve noticed the form "ward" of the German verb "werden" and don’t find really its proper use. I s’ppose it must be an ancient version of the current "wurde". Though, is it? I’ve seen it sharing protagonism with "wurde" in many places, in a way I wouldn’t call random, but rather with a precise distinction of occurance.

I would thank you very much if you could shed some light upon this

Danke Schön!!

          FS.

I’ve seen ward in fairy tales.  My Wahrig dictionary says it’s an obsolete past of werden.  I didn’t detect any difference in meaning in the few occasions I’ve seen this word.  I think the same is going on in English when you encounter words like begat instead of begot (used a lot in the Bible) and spake instead of spoke.  They are just archaic.

Brazilian dude

I will precise a bit more. I’ve been scanning through the book I’m reading now, which is contemporary literature, but actually jokes with archaic language and I think that the difference of use lies in the employment of wurde as auxiliar for the perfective passive and ward for the past simple…

Aber ich weiß ehrlich gesagt nichts… Vielleicht ist es nur mit diesem Autor.

Grüße:

            FS.

Könntest du vielleicht die Kontexte liefern, damit die beiden von uns darüber nachdenken können?  Es könnte auch sein, dass die Fragmente, auf die du hinweist, ein purer Zufall sind.

Übrigens, kennst du diese Webpage: http://www.duden.de?  Außergewöhnlich!

Brazilian dude

Überraschende !  Eine Webseite für Brasilianische Duden !     ;D

WQ

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.  Ich hatte daran nicht gedacht  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Brazilian dude

My dictionary (Moskalskaja) informs that ‘ward’ is IMPERFEKTUM for ‘werden’ and adds: a poetical word.
Who is right? Obsolete or poetical?

<<<My dictionary (Moskalskaja) informs that ‘ward’ is IMPERFEKTUM for ‘werden’ and adds: a poetical word.
Who is right? Obsolete or poetical?<<<

I think this is putting things too sharp and too black and white. ‘Poetical’ (as used in a dictionary to mark certain words) doesn’t necessarily excludes ‘obsolete’. I guess both specifications are equally correct in the case of "ward".

All the best.

Frank

Hey Tim, at least you have a poetic name.