Based on spontaneous data from 50 German children with specific language impairment (SLI), several aspects of impaired clause structure are explored. Findings are that children with SLI use more finite than nonfinite verb forms. (Author/VWL)

Offers an analysis of native speech data as a base for teaching the past tense in German. Interviews with native speakers revealed that the present perfect serves as the dominant past tense for main verbs; modal verbs, the copula "sein,""haben," and certain formulaic expressions occur in the preterite; and past tense use is linked to contextual…