If you are new to language learning, it may scare you that there are so many tense forms. But if you have already learned languages before, then the number of times will please you. There are far fewer of them in German than in English: only six.
What tenses are there in German?
Obviously, in reality there are three times: what has already happened, what is happening, and what will happen. However, more forms are used to convey time. The number of such forms in different languages differs, and it is not always possible to draw analogies with native or other studied languages. foreign language. Let's look at the uses of each of these forms in German.
Present tense in German
The study of times traditionally begins with the simplest - the present. To convey what is happening at the moment of speech, only one form is used in German - Präsens.
To form a simple form of the present tense, you only need to know how a particular verb is conjugated. No auxiliary verbs are required. There is no difference in describing what is happening right now or some time up to now. If the action takes place at the moment of speech, it is present, and there is only one form for it - Präsens.
Schematically, the formula will look like this:
The basis of the semantic verb + personal ending.
We have a lot of problems. - Wir haben mehrere Probleme.
Please note: as in Russian, so in English language, the present tense form can be used to talk about planned events that are only to take place in the future. That is, formally it is the present tense, but in meaning it is the future: actions are not taking place at the present moment, but only planned. The decision has already been made, it will definitely be.
We will go to the sea tomorrow. - Wir fahren morgen ans Meer.
Past tense in German
There are already more forms to convey the past tense - as many as three:
To form the past tense, you need to know three forms of the verb: Infinitiv (Infinitive) - Präteritum (Preteritum) - Partizip II (Participle Zwei). Regular, or weak verbs, in the formation of these forms do not change the root, just certain rule prefixes and suffixes are added.
Irregular, or strong verbs, do not form forms according to the rule. Such verbs will have to be memorized. Fortunately, there are much fewer such verbs.
If you were attacked by longing, which is a huge amount irregular verbs If you have to study long and tediously, then, most likely, you are simply not yet familiar with Advance technologies for fast and high-quality memorization of any number of words. How to work with thousands of foreign words and remember them forever in a short time, eliminating mistakes, we will analyze in one of the other lessons.
Prateritum
The simplest and most commonly used form of the past tense. Form formation does not require auxiliary words, but will be different for weak and strong verbs.
For weak verbs, the scheme will look like this:
stem of a semantic verb + suffix te + personal ending (except for the 1st and 3rd person in the singular).
There is no such scheme for strong verbs. They will have to be memorized along with Infinitiv and Partizip II.
Perfect
This form is just as important as the Präteritum, but is characterized by the completion of the process and is more characteristic of conversation.
An auxiliary word is required to form this form. The scheme will be as follows:
conjugated auxiliary sein or haben (in 1st, 2nd or 3rd person Präsens) + Partizip II of the main semantic verb.
Partizip II of a strong verb, as we said, must be learned along with the semantic verb in its initial form. Partizip II of a weak verb is formed like this:
prefix ge + stem of the semantic verb + suffix t.
Note that the prefix ge is not used with all verbs. You can learn more about the intricacies with examples from the video tutorial and pattern files at the bottom of the page.
Plusquamperfekt
This is the last, third form of the formation of the past tense in German. It is used somewhat less often - in cases where it is important to focus on precedence, to indicate the order of actions in the past.
The form is somewhat similar to Perfect, however, the auxiliary verb is used not in the present tense, but in the past. The semantic verb, as in Perfekt, is in the form Partizip II. The schema will look like this:
the conjugated verb sein or haben in the preteritum (Präteritum) + Partizip II of the main semantic verb.
Future tense in German
Usually the future is expressed using Futurum1 or, as we have already said, using Präsens. Extremely rare - in the form of Futurum2.
Futurum1
The simple future tense can almost always be used when you are talking about something that should or might happen later.
The education scheme is simple:
auxiliary verb werden (in Präsens) + Infinitiv I of the semantic verb.
Futurum2
The second form of expressing the future tense is similar in meaning to Plusquamperfekt in the past: it is used exclusively for those cases when there is a need to emphasize the sequence of actions, but not in the past, but in the future. For example, if you need to compare one action with another, compare their course in the future. Used quite rarely.
The scheme differs from Futurum1 in another form of the semantic verb:
auxiliary verb werden (in Präsens) + Infinitiv Perfekt of the semantic verb.
Examples of using each temporary form are discussed in detail in the video tutorial. After watching the video, we recommend that you take the time to practice the skill of automatically correct use of tenses - for this, use the files with patterns that can be downloaded from the links below.
The German language differs from Russian in the presence of three forms of the past tense: preterite (Präteritum, otherwise Imperfekt), perfect (Perfekt), pluperfect (Plusquamperfekt).
The perfect is a difficult tense. Difficult not in the sense - difficult, but consisting of two words. Here we are dealing with some load - this is an auxiliary verb haben or sein.
Perhaps it is worth recalling the conjugation of these verbs:
| person(face) | haben(have) | sein(to be) |
| ich (I) | habe | bin |
| du(you) | hast | best |
| sie, er, es (she, he, it) | hat | ist |
| wir (we) | haben | sind |
| ihr (you) | habt | seid |
| sie (Sie) (they (you)) | haben | sind |
So, the perfect is formed as follows:
haben/sein (in present) + PartizipII of the main verb
- Ich habe die Socken gewechselt. - I changed my socks
- Ich bin mit der Freundin in der Kneipe gewesen. I was with my girlfriend at the bar.
Once again: the main verb is the verb that we want to use in the past tense - in this case in the perfect.
In the perfect, it is used in the form of the participle II, i.e. in the third main form:
- trinken-trank- getrunken(drink)
- lugen-log- gelogen(lie)
- fressen-fraß- gefressen is (about animals)
Note! For the correct use of the perfect, it is necessary to remember which verbs form the perfect with an auxiliary verb haben, and which sein.
With the auxiliary verb haben, most verbs are conjugated
All transitive verbs, i.e. accusative controllers
bauen(build),essen(eat),lieben(be in love),machen(to do), offnen(open),etc.
Ich habe den neuen Starkasten gebaut. - I built a new birdhouse.
All reflexive verbs
sichrasieren(to shave),sichbemü hen(try),sichkä men(comb your hair)etc.
Mein Opa hat sich fast jeden Morgen rasiert. My grandfather shaved almost every morning.
All modal verbs
kö nnen(to be able)mü ssen(be forced to),Sollen(be to),wollen(to want),dü rfen(have permission)mö gene(be in love).
Ich habe meine Tante nie gemocht. “I never loved my aunt.
Intransitive verbs
Intransitive verbs that denote continuous action or a state of rest
liegen(lie),sitzen(sit),stehen(to stand),leben(live),schlafen(sleep)
Er hat drei Stunden am Kiosk gestanden. He stood for three hours at the kiosk.
All impersonal verbs
Regnen(it's raining),donnern(thunder)blitzen(sparkles)etc.
Es hat gestern zwei mal geblitzt. It flashed twice yesterday.
With auxiliary verb sein the following verbs are used
Verbs of motion
reisen (to travel), fliegen (to fly), gehen (to walk), fallen (to fall), fahren (to go), aufstehen (to get up), etc.
Petra ist nach Moldau gefahren. – Petra went to Moldova.
Verbs that indicate a change in state
einschlafen (fall asleep), aufwachen (wake up), ertrinken (drown), sterben(die), aufbühen (flourish), etc.
Michael ist um elf Uhr abends nach der Disko aufgestanden. Michael woke up at 11 pm after the disco.
The verbs sein and bleiben
Ich bin am Mittwoch bei meiner Freundin geblieben. On Wednesday I stayed with my friend.
If the verb of motion emphasizes the duration of the action or receives the effect of transitivity (transitivity), then it can be used with haben:
- Ich bin an das andere Ufer geschwommen. I swam across to the other side of the river.
- Als kleines Kind habe ich nicht so gut geschwommen. - I was a bad swimmer as a child.
- Der Lkw ist schnell gefahren. – The truck was moving fast
- Der Lkw hat einen Füßgänger angefahren. - The truck hit a pedestrian.
Note! The perfect, like the priterite, is used to denote an action in the past tense. Unlike the preterite, it has the effect of completing the action.
Most often, the preterite is used in live speech, in natural dialogues:
Menschen, wo seid ihr gestern gewesen? Ich habe ihr lange gesucht!
Listen, where were you yesterday? I have been looking for you for a long time!
Du, wir sind aufs Land gefahren…
What are you, we went out of town ...
In narrative form, the perfect can open and close a story in the preterite:
Viele Gaste sind zu uns gekommen. Sie waren feierlich gekleidet, lachten laut und unterhielten sich lebhaft miteinander […]. Kurz und gut ist das Fest gut gelungen.
Many guests came to us. They were festively dressed, laughing loudly and talking animatedly with each other. […]. In short, the holiday was a success.
German verbs in the past tense - Präteritum (preterite)
In German, unlike Russian, three forms of the past tense are distinguished: preterite (Präteritum, otherwise Imperfekt), perfect (Perfekt), pluperfect (Plusquamperfekt).
Let's start with the simple past tense or Präteritum, which in Latin means past, past.
Weak verbs form a preterite from their stem with the -te suffix and personal endings, which are shown in the table below.
Verbs whose stem ends in t, d, tm, dm, gn, chn acquire a suffix - ete
| person(face) | spielen(play) | arbeiten(work) |
| ich (I) | spiel-te | arbeit-ete |
| du(you) | spiel-te-st | arbeit-ete-st |
| sie, er, es (she, he, it) | spiel-te | arbeit-ete |
| wir (we) | spiel-te-n | arbeit-ete-n |
| ihr (you) | spiel-te-t | arbeit-ete-t |
| sie (Sie) (they (you)) | spiel-te-n | arbeit-ete-n |
As we know, the second main form of the verb is the priterite form:
- kommen- cam-gekommen (come)
- gehen- ging-gegangen (to go)
- sehen- sah-gesehen (to see)
When conjugated, i.e. change by person, a strong verb adds personal endings to this form (exception: 1 and 3 person singular).
Separable prefixes behave in the same way as for weak verbs, i.e. are separated and go to the end of the sentence:
| person(face) | sehen(look) | ansehen(look, see) |
| ich (I) | sah | sah an |
| du(you) | sah-est | sah-est an |
| sie, er, es (she, he, it) | sah | sah an |
| wir (we) | sah-en | sah-en an |
| ihr (you) | sah-et | sah-et an |
| sie (Sie) (they (you)) | sah-en | sah-en an |
The vast majority of modal verbs in the preterite are conjugated in the same way as weak verbs, i.e. form the priterite form with the suffix -te and receive personal endings:
| person(face) | konnen(be able) | Sollen(be to) |
| ich (I) | konnte | sollte |
| du(you) | konntest | solltest |
| sie, er, es (she, he, it) | konnte | sollte |
| wir (we) | connten | sollten |
| ihr (you) | konntet | solltet |
| sie (Sie) (they (you)) | connten | sollten |
There is a group of verbs that form a preterite not according to general rules, but add endings to the second main form, which, as we already know, is a preterite form:
| person(face) | sein(to be) | haben(have) | werden(become) | tun(do) |
| ich (I) | war | hat-te | wurde | tat |
| du(you) | war-st | hat-te-st | wurd-est | tat-est |
| sie, er, es (she, he, it) | war | hat-te | wurde | tat |
| wir (we) | war en | hat-te-n | wurd-en | tat en |
| ihr (you) | war-t | hat-te-t | wurde-t | tat-et |
| sie (Sie) (they (you)) | war en | hat-te-n | wurd-en | tat en |
Note! Pay attention again: in the 1st and 3rd person singular. verbs have no personal endings in the preterite. The letter -e, which is in the suffix -te, is not a personal ending of the 1st person!
The preterite serves to form an action performed in the past tense, and is most often used when telling a story in a monologue form or in a narrative:
Gestern war ich im Park. Ich Wollte Eichhornchens beobachten und mich ausruhen. Das Wetter war schön und warm, wie immer im Sommer. Am Himmel zwitscherten die Vogel, die Sonne schien hell. Plotzlich begann es zu schneien…
Yesterday I was in the park. I wanted to take a break and watch the squirrels. The weather was beautiful and warm, as always in summer. Birds were singing in the sky, the sun was shining brightly. Suddenly it started snowing...
The theme of the verb in German is very extensive: these are tenses, participles, and pledges. At first glance, it may seem that all this is impossible to learn on your own, but do not rush to get upset: all grammatical topics are closely related to each other.
Let's look at the theme of tenses in German.
General information about tenses in German
To begin with, it is worth noting that the theme of tenses in German is much easier to understand than in English. Firstly, there is no continuous form of the Continuous verb, and, secondly, the rules for using are not so strict.
Temporal forms in German express the same as in Russian: present, past and future.
However, if the present tense is one, then there are three forms of the past, and two of the future. It's strange, you might think, why do events in the past need three whole times?
To understand this, let's take a closer look at them.
In German it is called Präsens. You start learning a language with presence: remember the place of the verb in the sentence and learn personal endings.
For example:
The simplest sentence in Präsens would look like this:
Wirlesen ein Buch. - We are reading a book.
This tense should be used when an event or action:
- happening right now;
- occurs regularly or recurs;
- still not completed, i.e. started in the past and continues;
- will happen in the near future;
- when it comes to schedules or schedules.
There are three of them in German. But do not worry, it is very difficult to get confused in them.
Prateritum used in a coherent narrative or description to express a completed, past action.
A feature of all verbs in the Präteritum form is
1. the absence of personal endings in 1 and 3 liters. units h.
2. separable prefixes are separated and placed in the last place in the sentence.
Formation of the form Präteritum weak verbs:
Verb stem + suffix. -(e)te + personal ending (except for 1 and 3 letter units)
malen (mal-) | arbeiten (arbeit-) |
||||||
| ich | mal te | wir | mal te n | ich | arbeit ete | wir | arbeit ete n |
| du | mal te st | ihr | mal te t | du | arbeit ete st | ihr | arbeit ete t |
| er | sie | mal te n | er | sie | arbeit ete n | ||
| sie | mal te | sie | arbeit ete | ||||
| es | Sie | mal te n | es | Sie | arbeit ete n | ||
Strong verbs form the Präteritum form as follows:
Verb stem with modified root vowel + personal ending (except for 1 and 3 l singular)
nehmen | gehen |
||||||
| ich | n a hm | wir | nahmen | ich | g i ng | wir | g i ngen |
| du | n a hmst | ihr | n a hmt | du | g i ngst | ihr | g i ngt |
| er | sie | n a hmen | er | sie | g i ngen | ||
| sie | n a hm | sie | g i ng | ||||
| es | Sie | n a hmen | es | Sie | g i ngen | ||
When forming Präteritum, as well as Perfect strong verbs, you should know the three main forms of the verb Infinitiv–Präteritum–Partizip II, eg.
kommen-kam-gekommen
gehen-ging-gegangen
schreiben–schrieb–geschrieben
The first form is already known to you, that is, the initial form of the verb, the second is the form of the verb in Präteritum in 1 or 3 liters. units hours, from which all personal forms should be formed. And the third form will be required to form another past tense Perfekt. All three forms must be learned by heart and are always listed in the table at the end of the dictionary.
In addition to strong verbs, the three forms of which are not formed according to the rules, there are several verbs that, when forming Präteritum, combine the features of both strong (change in the root vowel) and weak verbs (adding a suffix -te). These verbs include:
bringen-brachte
verbringen-verbrachte
kennen–kannte
brennen-brannte
nennen–nannte
as well as modal verbs losing umlaut:
konnen-konnte
mussen-musste
wollen-wollte
mogen-mochte
sollen – sollte
dürfen-durfte
And separately, of course, you should remember 3 main forms auxiliary verbs:
sein-war-gewesen
haben-hatte-gehabt
werden-wurde-geworden
Exercise / ÜBUNGEN
1. Conjugate the verbs in Präteritum:
- warten - stoppen - sich kümmern - holen - versorgen - schenken - richten - gratulieren -
2. Read the following text and fill in the gaps with the verbs in Präteritum. Write down and learn 3 forms of these verbs.
3. Describe yesterday in the Muller farming family using the preterite. Refer to the table at the beginning of the article. Start your story like this:
Gestern begann der Tag für die Familie Müller wie immer sehr früh. Der Vater und die Mutter
standen um 6 Uhr auf…
4. Describe your own yesterday. What did you like (dislike), what did you do in your working (free) time? Write at least 15 sentences.
Perfect is the most used past tense in German. His education must be learned first. After all, it is used in colloquial speech and everyday life. This is the tense that you will almost always use when talking about the past in German.
Auxiliary verbs are used to form the perfecthaben orsein+ communion II(Partizip ll, 3rd verb form) semantic verb.
Auxiliary verbs haben orsein are not translated, they are only a variable part of the predicate. The meaning of the whole predicate depends on the meaning of the verb, acting in the form communion(Partizip ll, 3rd form of the verb), which is its invariable part and is at the end of the sentence.
Ich habe dieses Buch gelesen. — I have read this book.
Er ist nach Berlin gefahren. He came to Berlin.
Do not forget, Partizip ll is at the end of a sentence, a picture for memorization:
So, to form the Perfect, you need to conjugate the auxiliary verb haben orsein(he goes to second place in the sentence), correctly form communion II(Partizip ll, 3rd form of the verb) and put it at the end of the sentence.
The first difficulty: which auxiliary verb to choose?haben orsein? Let's find out!
Let's review the verb conjugations first.seinAndhaben. These two signs need to be known by heart.
Verbs with " sein"
With auxiliary verbseinare used:
1. all intransitive verbs,denoting movement in space:
aufstehen, begegnen, fahren, fallen, fliegen, gehen, kommen, reisen, etc.
2. all intransitive verbs,denoting a change in state, transition to a new phase of the process,for example: aufblühen, aufwachen, einschlafen, entstehen, werden, wachsen or sterben, ertrinken, ersticken, umkommen, vergehen, etc.
3. verbs sein, werden, bleiben, geschehen, passieren (to happen, to happen), gelingen (to succeed)
Notes
1. Verbs fahren And fliegen can also be used as transitional. In this case, they are conjugated with the verb haben:
Ich habe das Auto selbst in die Garage gefahren.
Der Pilot hat das Flugzeug nach New York geflogen.
2. Verb Schwimmen:
Er istüber den Kanal geschwommen. (= movement towards a specific goal)
Er hat zehn Minuten im Fluss geschwommen. (= movement in a confined space, without indication of the purpose of movement)
Verbs with "
haben"
The rest of the verbs form the perfect withhaben:
1. all verbs, accusative controllers(= transitive verbs):
bauen, fragen, essen, hören, lieben, machen, öffnen, etc.
2. all reflexive verbs:
sich beschäftigen, sich bemühen, sich rasieren, etc.
3. all modal verbs:
dürfen, können, mögen, müssen, sollen, wollen.
4. Intransitive verbs,denoting ongoing actions or states. These include:
a) verbs that are combined with the circumstances of place and time, but do not imply a change in place, state or movement in space:
hängen (= strong verb), liegen, sitzen, stehen, stecken, arbeiten, leben, schlafen, wachen, etc.
b) dative verbs that do not indicate movement: antworten, danken, drohen, gefallen, glauben, nützen, schaden, vertrauen, etc.
c) the verbs anfangen, aufhören, beginnen, denoting the beginning and end of an action.
In the south of Germany, the verbs liegen, sitzen, stehen are used in the perfect with sein.
The constituent parts of the perfect have the same meaning and are not translated separately. Therefore, seeing the auxiliary verb haben or sein in the sentence, must be found at the end of the sentence second part complex shape (participle II) and translate them in one word - a verb in the past tense. When translating, it is necessary to follow the order of words.
For example: Mein Bruder ist nach Moskau gefahren. - My brother went to Moscow. - For translation, you need to "go" to the end of the sentence, and "ist" is not translated.
In dictionaries and lists of basic forms, verbs that form the perfect with sein are usually accompanied by a special mark (s).
Examples of conjugation of verbs in the perfect:
arbeiten - to work
ich habe gearbeitet
du hast gearbeitet
er hat gearbeitet
wir haben gearbeitet
ihr habt gearbeitet
