Tenses in German

8/8/2019 Tenses in German

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This booklet is to help you prepare for your GCSE German option next year

by revising all the tenses you have learnt in KS3. It will also be a very

useful reference guide when you are in KS4. You will be using it in your

German lessons and for homework for the rest of term.

Read the tense descriptions carefully and complete the exercises. MrsMeads will correct any exercises you complete.

1.The Present Tense (I do, I am doing)

So what is the Present Tense used for in German?

The Present Tense in German is used to talk about things that are happening atthe present time or about things which happen regularly or which you do often.For example, in English, I play football on a Saturday morning and I have adog are both examples of the Present Tense.How do I form the Present Tense?

The Present Tense in German is really not that difficult to form. There aresome simple rules that you need to know and learn which govern Weak Verbs,and some basic principles concerning Strong Verbs which really help you to usethem. In addition there are few common Irregular Verbs that you need to learn.That sounds pretty complicated to me!

Learners of German tend to think that verbs are difficult. I really do not thinkthat this is the case. If we address each section carefully, we can see patternsand similarities, and reduce the whole thing to some simple rules.

Weak verbs in German are verbs which are obedient and follow all the rules

exactly in a given tense, in this case the Present Tense. They obey all patterns.(They are a bit like what would be known as regular verbs in French.)That sounds pretty straight forward. What about Strong Verbs then?

Strong Verbs are verbs which do not conform like weak verbs; rather they arestrong and stand up for themselves. Actually, they are not as strong as theylike to think they are, and in reality they do follow rules and patterns, but eachverb has a very slight difference.So I guess they are like Irregular verbs in French, say?

No, they are not, which is why we do not use the term Irregular Verbs for them.Strong verb do follow the basic rules, but they each have a very slightdifference in two of their forms, which needs to be learned for each verb.Otherwise they are much the same as weak verbs.So there are no Irregular verbs in German then?

The not so good news is that there are a number of verbs which are irregular inthe way they form the Present Tense. The good news is that there are not thatmany of them and as they are frequently used verbs, they are not that difficultto learn.


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Whats the rule with weak verbs then?

Weak verbs all follow this pattern: We take the infinitive form of the verb (that is, the form that we find in

the dictionary): for example lets take spielen which means to play.

We then take off the -EN from the end to form what we call the stem.We then add on an ending as follows:

English Subject GermanSubject

Ending addedto Stem

spielen

I ich -e ich spiele

you (to a friend) du -st du spielst

he / she / it er / sie /es

-t er / sie / esspielt

we wir -en wir spielen

you (to more than onefriend)

ihr -t ihr spielt

they / you (politely toone or more people)

sie / Sie -en sie / Siespielen

Now if we look at that list of endings, we can simplify it down even further. Wenotice that the wir and sie / Sie forms are actually the same as theinfinitive, which makes them very easy to work out. The er / sie / es and ihrforms are the same in that they both take a t on the end. That just leaves theich and du forms.

Do all verbs end in -EN in the infinitive then?

The vast majority of verbs do indeed end in -EN in the infinitive. There are afew exceptions. For example, verbs which end in -ELN such as sammeln (tocollect), angeln (to fish) and segeln (to sail) follow the same pattern withslight changes:

English Subject German

Subject

Ending added

to Stem

sammeln

I ich -e ich sammle

you (to a friend) du -st du sammelst

he / she / it er / sie / es -t er / sie / essammelt

we wir -en wir sammeln

you (to more than one friend) ihr -t ihr sammelt

they / You (politely to one or

more people)

sie / Sie -en sie / Sie

sammeln


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The only real difference here is that the ich form has lost an extra efrom the infinitive. In addition, there was no E to take off theinfinitive, so we just took off the N. Not that hard really!

In addition, the stem of some verbs (the bit with the EN taken off)ends in a D or T. In this case, we add an extra E in the du and er /sie / es and ihr forms, for ease of pronunciation.

finden (tofind)

arbeiten (towork)

ich finde arbeite

du findest arbeitest

er / sie /

es

findet arbeitet

wir finden arbeiten

ihr findet arbeitet

sie / Sie finden arbeiten

OK. So what about these Strong Verbs then?

I said above that Strong verbs are the same as weak verbs in most ways,but that they have a change in a couple of parts. There really is no need

for stress where Strong Verbs are concerned! Lets look at an example, and Ill show you what I mean. The verb fahrenis a strong verb and it means to go or to travel by a means oftransport. It is a very frequently used verb. Here it is in the PresentTense:

English Subject GermanSubject

Ending addedto Stem

fahren

I ich -e ich fahre

you (to a friend) du -st du fhrst

he / she / it er / sie /es

-t er / sie / esfhrt

we wir -en wir fahren

you (to more than onefriend)

ihr -t ihr fahrt

they / You (politely toone or more people)

sie / Sie -en sie / Siefahren

The first thing that we notice is that the endings are exactly the same as for aweak verb. Result! I told you this was simple! The only difference is that in the


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du and er / sie / es forms, there is what we call a vowel change whichchanges the pronunciation.

All Strong Verbs follow this pattern of vowel change in those two parts only.

The endings are the same as for weak verbs. You do however have to learn whichverbs are Strong Verbs and what the vowel change is for each one, as there isno way of telling from the verb itself. There are patterns and the more youlearn, the easier it becomes.

Here are some common Strong Verbs used at GCSE level in England:

The letter a gains an Umlaut in the du and er / sie / es forms:

fahren (to go,

to travel)

tragen (to

wear , to carry)

schlafen (to

sleep)ich fahre trage schlafe

du fhrst trgst schlfst

er / sie / es fhrt trgt schlft

wir fahren tragen schlafen

ihr fahrt tragt schlaft

sie / Sie fahren tragen schlafen

waschen (to

wash)

laufen (to run) gefallen (to

please)

ich wasche laufe

du wschst lufst

er / sie / es wscht luft gefllt

wir waschen laufen

ihr wascht lauft

sie / Sie waschen laufen gefallen

The letter e changes to ie in the du and er / sie / es forms:

sehen (to see) lesen (to read)


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ich sehe lese

du siehst liest

er / sie / es sieht liest

wir sehen lesen

ihr seht lest

sie / Sie sehen lesen

The letter e changes to an i in the du and er / sie / es forms:

geben (to give) essen (to eat) sprechen (to speak)

ich gebe esse spreche

du gibst isst sprichst

er / sie / es gibt isst spricht

wir geben essen sprechen

ihr gebt esst sprecht

sie / Sie geben essen sprechen

helfen (to help) treffen (to meet)

ich helfe treffe

du hilfst triffst

er / sie / es hilft trifft

wir helfen treffen

ihr helft trefftsie / Sie helfen treffen


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Not that difficult really then. Tell me about the irregular verbs.

There are a few verbs which are irregular and have to be learned individually.

haben (tohave)

sein (tobe)

werden (tobecome)

nehmen (totake)

ich habe bin werde nehme

du hast bist wirst nimmst

er / sie / es hat ist wird nimmt

wir haben sind werden nehmen

ihr habt seid werdet nehmt

sie / Sie haben sind werden nehmen

In addition, there are 6 modal verbs, which also follow their own pattern andare slightly irregular. These are useful and frequently used verbs and arefollowed by an infinitive in a sentence.

knnen (to be able to) wollen (to want to) mssen (to have to)

ich kann will muss

du kannst willst musst

er / sie / es kann will muss

wir knnen wollen mssen

ihr knnt wollt msst

sie / Sie knnen wollen mssen

drfen (to be allowed to) sollen (ought to / should) mgen (to like)

ich darf soll mag

du darfst sollst magst

er / sie / es darf soll mag

wir drfen sollen mgen

ihr drft sollt mgt

sie / Sie drfen sollen mgen

SEPERABLE verbs are ones such as fernsehen (to watch TV) and aussehen (tolook like) which split up when you use them in the present tense. The first partof the INFINITIVE goes to the end of the sentence and the main part of the

verb follows the SUBJECT PRONOUN in its ENDING form:fernsehen>> ich sehe jeden Abend fern


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aussehen >> mein Vater sieht altmodisch aus.So is that it then?

As far as GCSE in England is concerned, that should be everything you need toknow about formation of the present tense. There are a few other more

advanced complications, and of course you can find details of these in anygrammar book.


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2 Perfect tense (I have done, I did)

2.1 There are 3 parts to the PERFECT TENSE:1)SUBJECT PRONOUN 2) AUXILARY VERB (haben or sein) 3)PAST

PARTICIPLE

2.2 The AUXILARY verb (haben or sein) should match the SUBJECTPRONOUN (see 1.6). Use HABEN in most cases, but SEIN if there is an ideaof MOVEMENT from one place to another.

3.3a The PAST PARTICIPLE is mostly formed by adding ge- to the start ofthe INFINITIVE and by changing the final en/-n to t.

3.3b The PAST PARTICIPLE goes right at the end of the sentence.

3.3c You dont add ge- to verbs beginning with be-, -ent-, er-, ge-, ver-,zer-, or ending in -ieren.

3.3d SEPERABLE VERBS put the ge- in the middle: e.g. auf/rumen >>aufgerumt

4.3e Many verbs have an IRREGULAR PASTPARTICIPLE form >>>>>

3.The Imperfect tense/ the simple past (I wasdoing)

3.1 This best translates the English WAS/WEREdoing something or to indicate that you USED to dosomething.

3.2 Take off the en/ -n of the INFINITIVE and add these endings:Ich te Ich spielteDu test Du spieltestEr/sie/es/man te Er/sie/es/man

spielteWir ten Wir spieltenIhr tet Ihr spieltetSie/sie ten Sie/sie spielten

went gegangen*gefahren*

ate gegessen

drank getrunkenread gelesensaw gesehenstayed geblieben*

* sein

3.3 The main verbs for you to use/knowin the imperfect form are:Ich war = I was; Es war = It wasIch hatte = I hadEs gab = There was/wereIch konnte = I could

Ich mute = I had toIch wollte = I wanted to


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Perfect & Imperfect tense exercises


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4. Future Tense (I will do)

4.1 WERDEN + INFINITIVE. Use the correct part of WERDEN (to indicateyou WILL do something) + the INFINITIVE (to indicate WHAT you will do)

goes at the END.

4.2 The verb table for WERDEN is:

+ INFINITIVEExample: Ich werde morgen

nach Deutschland fahren

Future tense exercises

Ich werdeDu wirstEr/sie/es/man wirdWir werdenIhr werdetSie/sie werden


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5.Conditional ( I would do)

5.1 WRDEN + INFINITIVE. Use the correct part of WRDEN (to indicateyou WOULD do something) + the INFINITIVE (to indicate WHAT you woulddo) goes at the END.

5.2 The verb table for WRDEN is:

+ INFINITVE

Example: Ich wrde gern in Amerika wohnen.

Ich wrde

Du wrdestEr/sie/es/man wrdeWir wrdenIhr wrdetSie/sie wrden

Documents

Tenses in German