German Tenses
From ZuluNotes - Free Leaving Cert Notes
As in English, there are many tenses in German. These notes provide an introduction to the main tenses and the context in which each of them is normally used. Unless otherwise stated, the notes refer throughout to regular verbs. To learn more about irregular verbs, check the Verbs page on this website.
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[edit] Present Tense
The present tense is generally used to express any action or state in the present moment. It is formed using the root of the infinitive with a number of endings: Verb = 'spielen'; Root = 'spiel'; Endings = '-e', '-st', '-t', '-en', '-t,' '-en'. The present tense is generally used as the continuous present, i.e. it expresses the idea of what is going on now and maybe has been for some time. One also uses the expressions 'seit' and 'schon' in conjunction with this.
- 'Ich lerne seit fünf Jahren Deutsch.'
- 'Martin wartet schon eine Drei viertelstunde auf seine neue Freundin.'
The present tense can also be used to express the future. This is also common in English. Using the present tense to express the future usually implies that what is being expressed in the future will more that likely happen and it is a planned event.
- 'Morgen spiele ich Tennis' (I am playing tennis tomorrow).
- 'Nächste Woche fahre ich nach Berlin.'
[edit] Past tense
The past tense in German is used to express any action or state that has occured in the past. There are two main forms of the past tense in German: Imperfect tense and Perfect tense.
[edit] Imperfect tense
This tense, also known as the simple past tense, is usually used in the narrative form and in formal German. It is mainly used to describe a once-off action that has taken place in the past. It is formed using the root of the infinitive and adding the following endings: 'te', 'test', 'te', 'ten', 'tet', 'ten','ten'. zB: 'Martin wartete eine Drei viertelstunde auf seine Freundin', and ‘Ich lernte in der Schule Deutsch.' The German simple past tense can be translated in a number of ways in English. Translation of the last sentence above could read as follows: ‘I learned German in school’; ‘I was learning German in school’; ‘I did learn German in school’; and ‘I used to learn German in school’. The imperfect tense of 'haben', 'sein' and the modal verbs are more commonly used in conversation and in letter writing, while the perfect tense of all other verbs is used to express the past tense.
[edit] Perfect tense
The perfect tense in German is used to describe an action that has taken place in the past and is no longer taking place. It is commonly used in conversation and in letter-writing to describe past events. It is formed using the present tense of the auxiliary verbs ‘haben’ or ‘sein’ plus the past participle of the verb. The past participle is formed by placing ‘ge' before the root and ‘-(e)t’ (weak verbs – regular) and ‘en’ (strong verbs – irregular) after it. There is, of course, no 'ge' when the verb contains the syllable 'ieren' or has an inseparable prefix.
- 'Ich habe in der Schule Deutsch gelernt.'
- 'Ich habe mich amüsiert.'
Most verbs use ‘haben’ as an auxiliary, while verbs that signal a change or arewithout an object (ie. Intransitive verbs) use ‘sein’. It is mostly verbs of motion that use ‘sein’.
- 'Ich bin nach Deutschland gefahren.'
- 'Der Zug ist endlich angekommen.'
When the verb stem ends in ‘t’ or ‘d’ or a consonant cluster (three or more consonants in a series – e.g. 'öffnen') an ‘et’ is always added to the stem.
- 'arbeiten' = 'gearbeitet'
- 'öffnen' = 'geöffnet'
No 'ge' is added if the verb begins with an inseparable prefix (i.e. 'be', 'ent', 'emp', 'er', 'ge', 'miss', 'ver', 'zer'), or when the verb contains the syllable 'ieren'.
- 'bezahlen' = 'bezahlt'
- 'erleben’ = 'erlebt'
- 'diskutieren = 'diskutiert'
- 'studieren' = 'studiert'
[edit] Future Tense
The future tense is used to express an action that is going to take place in the future. It is used in a similar way in English (I am going to, I will, I shall). It is formed using the present tense of the verb 'werden' and the infinitive of the verb concerned. The infinitive always goes to the end of the sentence.
- 'Frank und Katja werden nächste Woche nach Spanien fliegen.'
- 'Nächste Woche wird Mark seine Oma besuchen.'
It is important to note that the present tense is also used to express the future tense, particularly if the action is planned or regular or if there is an indication of time. zB: 'Morgen spielen wir Tischtennis'. (It has been planned and discussed and we are definitely playing table tennis). The future tense is also used to indicate an assumption about something or someone. In this instance it can refer to any tense. zB: 'Wo ist der Zug? Es wird sich wohl verspäten'! (There is probably a delay! – one is making an assumption that the train is delayed.) Note that it is easy to confuse ‘Ich will’ with ‘Ich werde’. ‘Ich will’ means ‘I want’ and not ‘I will’.
[edit] Conditional
In German the conditional is mainly used in ‘If’ sentences, commonly known as ‘Wenn-Sätze’. If a certain condition was true, then this would happen. In German there are two conditionals: 'Konditional I' and 'Konditional II'. 'Konditional I': 'Konditional I' refers to what would happen, if something else happens first. It is used in relation to the present / future. It is formed using the imperfect subjunctive of 'werden 'and the infinitive of the verb concerned. Again, the infinitive always goes to the end of the sentence.
- 'Wenn ich genug Geld hätte, würde ich ein neues Auto kaufen.'
- 'Wenn ich gesund wäre, würde ich in Urlaub fahren.'
'Konditional II' 'Konditional II' refers to wished chages in the past that are not possible anymore. They refer to what you could have done to improve a situation. It is formed using the imperfect subjunctive of'werden', the past participle of the verb concerned and the infinitive of the auxiliary verbs 'haben / sein' or more commonly used is the imperfect subjunctive of 'haben / sein ' and the past participle. zB: 'Ich wäre früher angekommen, wenn es nicht geregnet hätte'.
[edit] Passive
The passive tense is used when the action done to the subject of the sentence is what is important. The subject of the verb is not actually doing anything. Look at the following two English sentences: ‘The man drives the car’ and ‘The car is driven by the man’. In the first sentence the emphasis of the sentence is on the man (subject) and the fact that he performs the action; this is called the ‘active voice’. In the second sentence the emphasis is on the car and on the action that is done to it (being driven by the man); this is called the passive voice. The passive tense in German is constructed using the appropriate tense of the verb'werden' as an auxiliary verb and the past participle of the verb in question.
- 'Guinness wird in Irland hergestellt' (present)
- 'Guinness wurde in Irland hergestellt' (simple past)
- 'Guinness wird in Irland hergestellt werden' (future)
When there is a subject and object in the sentence, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject in the passive sentence.
- 'Der Hund beißt das Kind'. (Active)
- 'Das Kind wird von dem Hund gebissen'. (Passive)
Note that in the passive construction in German the word ‘by’ is translated as either 'von' plus dative or 'durch' plus accusative.
