Why are there three verbs in a row?

Question

»Wenn wir uns nur mit ihr hätten verstecken können, irgendwo im Ausland, unter falschem Namen, nur bis sie alt genug wäre...«
_{aus Rubinrot von Kerstin Gier}

I don't get the "hätten verstecken können" part. I understand what it means, but I don't understand how it's formed. Can someone please explain it to me?

Answer 1

One linguist once suggested analysing these sentences in terms of "multiplication" and "division", as if they were equations.

Ich verstecke mich. | × kann
Ich kann mich verstecken. | × habe
Ich habe mich verstecken können.

So you have a past form of a modal verb. In a subordinate clause, this becomes

da ich mich habe verstecken können

(with the finite verb habe placed in front of the double infinitive¹). The auxiliary can be put in the past subjunctive, yielding

wenn ich mich hätte verstecken können
"if I had been able to hide myself"

Or, if you prefer the reverse:

wenn wir uns hätten verstecken können | ÷ hätten
wenn wir uns verstecken könnten | ÷ könnten
wenn wir uns versteckten

^{1 Können instead of expected gekonnt is known as Ersatzinfinitiv: see for instance LEO. Ersatzinfinitiv corresponds with a deviation from the standard order in subordinate clauses: the finite verb does not occur in final position, but in front of the double infinitive. For some examples and rules, see this answer (in German).}

Answer 2

In addition to David Vogt's explanation: in English you can use the very similar word ordering with three "verbs" to the same meaning and similar reasoning (the 'to hide' and 'be able' are swapped in English grammar wrt to German grammar):

If we only had been able to hide

had - be able - to hide

The basic form is 'to be able to do sth' or the German equivalent 'etwas tun können' or in your example 'sich verstecken können'. Now the past is expressed with the auxillary verb 'haben' (in English with 'have'):

hatten sich verstecken können (have been able to hide)

Now we express the whole as a unfulfilled possibility which did not happen in the past (Konjunktiv irrealis der Vergangenheit):

hätten sich verstecken können (or equally possible: sich hätten verstecken können), in English 'had been able to hide'

Answer 3

Let's analyze a shorter sentence:

Wenn wir uns hätten verstecken können, dann wäre alles anders verlaufen.
^{If we could have hidden, then everything would have been different.}

This is a typical wenn-dann (if-then) construction. But the then part is missing in your sentence. That's why it ends in an ellipsis (three dots).

The word wenn (if) introduces a temporal subordinate clause. And in subordinate clauses all verbs of a sentence stand at the end. (There are different rules for questions and commands.) In main clauses of statements there must always be one of the verbs (the finite verb) at position 2, but in subordinate clauses even the finite verb must stand at the end together with all other verbs:

• main clause of a statement: finite verb at position 2, all other verbs at the end of the clause:

  Wir hätten uns vergangenen Sonntag gemeinsam mit den anderen in dem kleinen Waldstück verstecken können.

• subordinate clause: all verbs at the end of the clause:

  Wenn wir uns vergangenen Sonntag gemeinsam mit den anderen in dem kleinen Waldstück hätten verstecken können, dann wäre alles anders verlaufen.

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So, what is a finite verb and what kind of verbs are the other verbs which are always located at the end of the clause?

There are different kinds of verbs:

Full verbs

These are the verbs you usually have in mind when you think about verbs. These are verbs like essen (to eat), öffnen (to open), laufen (to run) and many others. Every clause must contain exactly one full verb.

Auxiliary verbs

These are verbs that do not carry any meaning. They are only in the sentence for grammatical reasons, to indicate a grammatical tense. German has exactly 3 auxiliary verbs:

Haben, sein und werden
sind die drei Hilfszeitwörter auf Erden.
_{To have, to be and to become are the three auxiliary verbs on earth.}

Forms of haben and sein are used to indicate the tenses Perfekt, Plusquamperfekt and Futur II. Which of them has to used does not depend on the tense but on the full verb. Each full verb has it's individual favorite auxiliary verb. Rule of thumb: Verbs that describe a state like schlafen (to sleep) need haben. Verbs that describe a transition like einschlafen (to fall asleep) need sein.

• Perfekt

  Ich habe geschlafen.
  Ich bin eingeschlafen.

• Plusquamperfekt

  Ich hatte geschlafen.
  Ich war eingeschlafen.

• Futur II

  Ich werde geschlafen haben.
  Ich werde eingeschlafen sein.

Forms of werden are used to indicate the tenses Futur I and Futur II, independent from the full verb.

• Futur I

  Ich werde schlafen.
  Ich werde einschlafen.

• Futur II

  Ich werde geschlafen haben.
  Ich werde eingeschlafen sein.

As you can see, Futur II needs two auxiliary verbs in addition to the full verb, so you already have 3 verbs in the predicate when you use the tense Futur II.

The verbs schlafen and einschlafen do not need any objects, so you can create short sentences which is fine to create simple examples, but without additional parts in the sentence it becomes difficult to distinguish between position 2 and the last position. So, lets add additional material to one of the examples given above:

• Futur II, main clause with additional stuff including a relative clause

  Ich werde morgen Abend, wenn du nach einem langen Tag endlich nach Hause kommen wirst, bereits eingeschlafen sein.
  ^{I will have fallen asleep already tomorrow night when you finally come home after a long day.}

• Futur II, subordiante clause with additional stuff including a relative clause

  Wenn ich morgen Abend, wenn du nach einem langen Tag endlich nach Hause kommen wirst, bereits eingeschlafen sein werde, dann darfst du mich aufwecken.
  ^{*Tomorrow night, when you finally come home after a long day, if I already will have fallen asleep, you can wake me up.}

Note, that all modal verbs have homonyms that are full verbs:

Ich bin krank. Ich habe Hunger. Ich werde Arzt.

And that these full verbs also can be combined with auxiliary verbs:

Ich bin krank gewesen. (Bin is a form of the auxiliary verb sein, gewesen is a form of the full verb sein)
Ich habe Hunger gehabt. (Habe is a form of the auxiliary verb haben, gehabt is a form of the full verb haben)
Ich werde Arzt werden. (Werde is a form of the auxiliary verb werden, werden is a form of the full verb werden)

Modal verbs

Full verbs must always be there, and auxiliary verbs must be there to indicate 5 of the 6 German tenses. But modal verbs are optional. In most grammar textbook you will find these 6 modal verbs:

• dürfen (to may, to be allowed to)

  Ich darf schlafen. - I may sleep, I'm allowed to sleep.

• können (to can, to be allowed to, to be able to)

  Ich kann schlafen. - I can sleep. I'm allowed to sleep. I'm able to sleep.

• mögen (to like to)

  Ich mag schlafen. - I like to sleep.

• müssen (to must, to have to)

  Ich muss schlafen. - I must sleep. I have to sleep.

• sollen (to shall, to be supposed to)

  Ich soll schlafen. - I should sleep. I'm supposed to sleep.

• wollen (to want to)

  Ich will schlafen. - I want to sleep.

Sometimes also some other verbs behave like modal verbs:

Du brauchst nicht anzuklopfen.
Wenn du das sagst, wird es schon stimmen.

The point is, that you almost always can add modal verbs to a clause:

• Only the full verb (Präsens)

  Ich schlafe.

• Full verb + one auxiliary verb (Futur I)

  Ich werde schlafen.

• Full verb + two auxiliary verb (Futur II)

  Ich werde geschlafen haben.

• Full verb + modal verb (Präsens)

  Ich will schlafen.

• Full verb + modal verb + one auxiliary verb (Futur I)

  Ich werde schlafen wollen.

• Full verb + modal verb + two auxiliary verb (Futur II)

  Ich werde schlafen gewollt haben.

In the last sentence you have 4 verbs in a row, but only because there is no additional stuff in this main clause. When you add something, it must go between position 2 and the last position:

• Main clause with additional material

  Ich werde morgen Abend, wenn du nach einem langen Tag endlich nach Hause kommen wirst, bereits schlafen gewollt haben.

But when you make a subordinate clause out of it, then also the finite verb moves to the end:

Wenn ich morgen Abend, wenn du nach einem langen Tag endlich nach Hause kommen wirst, bereits schlafen gewollt haben werde, dann darfst du mich aufwecken.