German verb tenses
German verbs not only change in number and person, but also change in tense. The tenses of German verbs are quite comparable to Russian ones - there are present, past and future tenses, only the German language provides for much richer content and complex formation of some tense forms. IN German There are six time forms, of which one reflects the present time, two - the future and three - the past. The tenses of German verbs can be simple (Präsens and Präteritum, also called Imperfekt) and complex (forms of the past tense - Perfekt, Plusquamperfekt, forms of the future - Futur I, II).
Present tense Präsens displays processes, states or actions that are occurring, existing or taking place at a given moment in time. Präsens in form is simple time, that is, it consists of one verb in the appropriate form of person and number and in almost all cases is formed by adding a personal ending to the stem of the semantic verb. Naturally, the German language cannot do without a number of exceptions to the general rule, since the stem of the verb can end in different letters(such as -t, -d, -tm, -dm, -chn), and then after them an additional vowel “e” is inserted in the second person of both numbers and in the third person Singular (singular), which is dictated by the ease of pronunciation of these words; strong verbs, the three main forms of which must be learned, may demonstrate the acquisition of an umlaut vowel in the second and third person Singular; and the verbs werden, haben, sein, which are very widely used in the German language, are generally conjugated without any rules.
For example:
Dein Trainer hat mir gesagt, dass du im Wasser richtig atmest. - Your coach told me that you breathe correctly in water. (In the verb “atmest”, due to the peculiarity of the stem, an additional vowel “e” is added).
Du rechnest sehr gut, aber zu langsam. Die Ziffern schreibst du richtig. - You count very well, but too slowly. You write the numbers correctly. (In the first case, an additional vowel appears in “rechnest”, and in the second, everything happens according to the standard scheme - nothing is added).
Du lässt mir überhaupt keine Hoffnung. - You leave me no hope at all. (In the strong verb "lassen" the second and third person Singular are characterized by the acquisition of the umlaut vowel "a").
Du hast eine sehr schöne Mütze, sie hat aber eine, die noch viel schöner ist. “Your hat is very beautiful, but her hat is even more beautiful.” (Here we see a peculiar formation of the second and third person Singular forms by the verb “haben - to have”).
Du wirst Lehrer, und er wird Mechaniker. - You will become a teacher, and he will become a mechanic. (Formation by the verb “werden - to become” of the second and third person forms Singular).
Dein Kleid ist ein absoluter Hinguker - ich bin begeistert. Bist du endlich zufrieden? - Your dress is so eye-catching - I’m delighted. Are you finally satisfied? (Here are all three Singular forms of the verb "sein - to be").
Wir sind heute im Theater, ihr seid morgen im Theater und sie sind bestraft. - We are going to the theater today, you are going tomorrow, and they are punished. (Three personal forms of the verb "sein" in plural(Plural) are also not formed according to the rule).
A feature of the present tense of German verbs is the ability to convey the future tense. In the latter case, the focus of the action on the future is often emphasized by the corresponding phrases and adverbs (bald - soon, danach - then, später - later, morgen - tomorrow, etc.).
For example:
Ich lese die Zeitschrift, welche mein Mann gestern gekauft hat. - I'm reading a magazine that my husband bought yesterday. (This reflects the reading process that is happening at the present moment in time.)
Morgen spielen wir wieder Schach. - Tomorrow we will play chess again. (In this case, the form Präsens conveys an action that is destined to happen in the future).
German verb tenses boast another simple form, consisting of one semantic verb without auxiliary words - this is the past tense Präteritum (Imperfekt). This form is used in German mainly in monologue speech. Weak verbs form Präteritum according to a general, standard scheme for all of them (by adding the ending -te to the stem of the infinitive of a particular verb), and strong verbs form it according to rules that are no longer used in modern German, and therefore must be memorized. The conjugation of verbs in Präteritum is also accompanied by the addition of a personal ending to the stem, but not the infinitive, as happens in Präsens, but the second of the main forms of the verb. A special feature of Präteritum is the absence of personal endings in the first and third person Singular; in other cases they coincide with the endings in Präsens).
For example:
Mein Kind wiederholte das Gedicht gestern. - My child repeated this poem yesterday. (The weak verb “wiederholen” forms Präteritum according to the standard scheme).
Gestern verbrachte ich zwei Stunden in der Schwimmhalle. - Yesterday I spent two hours in the pool. (The second form of the strong verb “verbringen” - “verbrachte” - must be remembered).
Du machtest keine Fehler in deinem Aufsatz. - You made no mistakes in your essay.
All other tenses of German verbs are complex and are formed using the semantic and corresponding auxiliary verbs. In addition to Präteritum, the past tense is expressed by Perfekt and Plusquamperfekt. There are no strict boundaries for the use of the three past tenses; here we can only talk about the frequency of their use.
The next representative of the tenses of German verbs is Perfekt, which is formed using one of the auxiliary verbs - sein or haben - and Partizip II (the third of the main forms of the verb).
When conjugated, only the auxiliary verb changes, which is taken to form Perfect in the present tense. The main areas of application of this time are dialogic speech and short messages. The choice of auxiliary verb is dictated by the meaning conveyed by the verb. Thus, verbs denoting the process of transition from one state to another or direct movement form Perfekt (and Plusquamperfekt) using the verb “sein”. The verbs folgen - to follow, begegnen - to meet, bleiben - to remain, geschehen - to happen, gelingen - to succeed, werden - to become, sein - to be - always form Perfekt (and Plusquamperfekt) with the verb “sein”. With “haben” the complex structure of Perfekt (and Plusquamperfekt) is formed by transitional, returnable, modal verbs, as well as those that convey a long-term state (such as schlafen - sleep, warten - wait, stehen - stand, etc.). Due to the lack of aspect in German verbs, Perfekt can convey both completed and incomplete action in the past, and can also be used to convey action in the future (possible, but rare use in speech).
For example:
Ich habe viele verschiedene Kuchen für meine Gäste gebacken. — I baked many different pies for my guests.
Gestern hat er sich endlich rasiert. - Yesterday he finally shaved.
Wir haben auf euch ewig lange gewartet. - We've been waiting for you forever.
Wir sind mit einem sehr komfortablen Bus gefahren. - We went on a very comfortable bus.
Ich bin gespannt, was dir gelungen ist. - I’m very interested in what you managed to do.
Bis Freitag ist es mir gelungen. “I’ll be able to do this by Friday.”
Plusquamperfekt is another representative of the tense system of German verbs - like Perfekt, it is formed using one of the auxiliary verbs - sein or haben - and Partizip II (the third of the three main forms of the verb). However, here, instead of Präsens of the corresponding auxiliary verb, as happens when forming Perfekt, its Präteritum is taken. In fact, this is its only significant difference from Perfect. At its core, Plusquamperfekt represents an action that precedes Perfekt, some call it “pre-past.” Unlike the other two German past tenses, Plusquamperfekt denotes a relative action, that is, one that took place in the past before any other. Most often, the relationship of actions is performed in the pair Präteritum - Plusquamperfekt. In colloquial speech this tense is rarely used; it can be found much more often in fiction.
For example:
Wir hatten wahnsinnigen Durst, weil wir innerhalb von 10 Stunden nichts getrunken hatten. “We were extremely thirsty because we hadn’t drunk anything for 10 hours.” (In the conversational part it would not be a mistake to replace the verb “hatten” with “haben”).
Als es zu regnen begann, war sie aus dem Bus bereits ausgestiegen. “By the time it started raining, she had already gotten off the bus.
The future tenses of German verbs are represented by the common Futur I and Futur II, which is practically not used at all in the modern language. Futur I is formed using the auxiliary verb “werden”, modified by numbers and persons, and the infinitive (Infinitiv I) of the semantic verb. Futur I is often replaced by the simple present Präsens, one of the functions of which is to convey an action that will happen in the future. The Futur II design consists of conjugated verb"werden" and Infinitiv II of the semantic verb. Futur II conveys the relativity of action, namely the completion of one action in the future before another (also in the future).
For example:
Im nächsten Jahr werde ich an das Schwarze Meer fahren. — Im nächsten Jahr fahre ich an das Schwarze Meer. - On next year I'll go to the Black Sea. (Futur I - Präsens)
Wenn wir eine neue Arbeit schreiben, werden wir alle Fehler berücksichtigt haben. - When will we write? new job, we will take into account all errors.
Times in German - examples of usage
In complex tense constructions, auxiliary verbs are used along with semantic ones. The meaning of the semantic verb dictates the choice of the auxiliary - it will be haben or sein. Verbs of movement, rapid change of state form complex designs using sein, and transitive, reflexive, modal verbs and verbs that convey any continuous state (sleep - schlafen, stand - stehen, etc.) require choosing the verb haben, for example:
Unser Kind ist heute sehr schnell eingeschlafen. - Our child fell asleep very quickly today (rapid change of state = sein).
Ich habe einen sehr interessanten Auftrag für Ihre Firma gefunden. - I found a very interesting order for your company (transitive verb = haben).
Mein Mann hat sich fünf Monate lang nicht rasiert. - My husband hasn’t shaved for five months (reflexive verb = haben).
Er ist gegen meinen Willen in mein Auto eingesprungen! - He jumped into my car against my will (verb of movement = sein).
Tenses in German (regular verbs)
In this way, as shown in the table, the main part of verbs, called regular ones, form tenses in the German language. However, German also has irregular verbs. To form tenses with such verbs, you will have to get acquainted with their basic forms Präteritum and Partizip II, without which it is impossible to do. The basic forms of irregular verbs exhibit characteristic root alternations. For example:
regular verbs: zerlegen (disassemble, cut up (carcass)) - zerlegte - zerlegt; vergrössern (increase) - vergrösserte - vergrössert; lösen (release, release, terminate (agreement, etc.), decide, dissolve) - löste - gelöst;
irregular verbs: hingehen (go there, in a given direction) - ging hin - hingegangen; zerbrechen (break, smash) - zerbrach - zerbrochen; entnehmen (take away, borrow, take out) - entnahm - entnommen, etc.
As already mentioned, the existing six German grammatical tense forms are distributed unevenly across real tenses (past, future, present). The present tense is expressed with Präsens, the future with Präsens and Futurum I, and the past with Perfekt, Präteritum or Plusquamperfekt. The tense form Futurum II is specific and is used only when necessary to express the precedence of one action in the future to some other. The three forms reflecting the past tense do not differ from each other in any specific temporal shades, but are only inherent in different types of speech activity. Thus, Perfekt is an integral part of dialogues and, accordingly, colloquial speech, Präteritum is mainly used in monologues and lengthy descriptions, and Plusquamperfekt (which in such cases can be replaced by the form Perfekt) helps to convey the precedence of any action to another action conveyed using Präteritum.
Past tense Plusquamperfekt and conjunction nachdem
In life, situations often arise when, when describing some action in the past, there is another action that occurred somewhat earlier. Accordingly, to reflect this earlier action in the past, an earlier past tense is also necessary. The German Plusquamperfekt is precisely such a case of a previously completed action in the past. Plusquamperfekt in its meaning precedes the German tense Perfekt. Let's look at simple speech examples:
Petra hat den Pullover gestrickt. - Petra knitted a pullover.
Petra ist aus dem Urlaub zurückgekehrt. - Petra returned from vacation.
In both examples the perfect is used (past tense, perfect). However, if we combine the events into one text, it turns out that first one action took place, and only after it another: Petra first returned from vacation, and then knitted a pullover. To correctly reflect this in German, it is necessary to construct statements in the following way:
Petra war aus dem Urlaub zurückgekehrt. Petra hat den Pullover gestrickt.
Now the time sequence of actions is observed, but the proposals are not completely interconnected. To establish this relationship, it is necessary to connect these simple sentences into one complex one. For this you will need German Confederation"after that; after - nachdem.” It is this conjunction that most often links complex sentences with the forms of past and pre-past tenses. Moreover, when using Plusquamperfekt as a pre-past tense, the past tense in complex sentence the simple past Präteritum will appear (this is ideal in grammatically coordination of times). The use of perfect forms in similar situations(instead of Präteritum) also seems quite possible and is not erroneous, for example:
Nachdem Petra aus dem Urlaub zurückgekehrt war, strickte sie den Pullover. = Nachdem Petra aus den Urlaub zurückgekehrt war, hat sie den Pullover gestrickt. - After Petra returned from vacation, she knitted a pullover.
From the above examples it is clear that if to form perfect forms auxiliary verbs are placed in Präsens forms, then to form plusquaperfect forms they are placed in Präteritum forms, but in practice Perfect is also widely used.
Plusquamperfekt forms can also be used in the passive voice, for example:
Nachdem der Bankräuber von der Bezirkspolizei festgenommen worden war, konnten sie nach Hause fahren. - After the bank robber was captured by the regional police, they could go home.
Nachdem diese leckere Pilzsuppe zubereitet worden war, wurden wir alle zum Mittagessen eingeladen. - After this delicious mushroom soup was prepared, we were all invited to dinner.
In general, the past tense form Plusquamperfekt is used very infrequently in German speech, and is especially rare in its colloquial form.
Ways of expressing time in German
There are different ways to express time in German. If some event or action took place in the past only once, then the German conjunction “als” is used, for example:
Als Thomas Sarah sah, war sie schon zu einer Tasse Kaffee eingeladen. - When Thomas saw Sarah, she had already been invited to a cup of coffee (in the past, a one-time action).
Als unser Vater nach Hause kam, war das Abendessen schon fertig. - When our father came home, dinner was already ready (in the past it was a one-time action).
When actions or phenomena are not of a one-time nature, but occur repeatedly, the German conjunction “wenn” is used, for example:
Immer wenn Thomas Sarah sah, war sie schon zu einer Tasse Kaffee eingeladen. - Whenever Thomas saw Sarah, she was already invited to a cup of coffee (multiple action in the past).
Jeweils wenn unser Vater nach Hause kam, war das Abendessen schon fertig. - Every time our father came home, dinner was already ready (in the past - a multiple action).
Wenn er eine günstigere Lösung findet, muss er sich bei uns melden. - When he finds a better solution, he must inform us (in the future - one-time action).
Wenn er Fehler findet, muss er uns sofort darüber informieren. - When he finds errors, he must immediately inform us about it (in the future - multiple actions).
Wenn du das erforderliche Spielzeug findest, sage mir Bescheid. - If you find the right toy, tell me (one-time action in the future).
Wenn Barbara in der Schule frühstücken wird, müßt ihr das bezahlen. - If Barbara eats breakfast at school, you must pay for it (multiple action in the future).
There are speech situations when a thought can be expressed without using subordinate clause. In such situations, subordinate clauses are replaced by the words “meanwhile - inzwischen” or “then - dann”, which, as a rule, take on the functions of minor members and require the use of reverse word order in sentences (otherwise, they take places after the main members within statements), for example:
Zuerst kam Holger an, danach kann sein Neffe. - First Holger arrived, and then his nephew arrived.
Zunächst hat unser Chef diese Entscheidung getroffen, dann verstand er seinen Fehler. - First, our boss made this decision, and then he realized his mistake.
Seine Kollegen führten alle Versuche durch, inzwischen bekam unsere Vertriebsabteilung neue Vorschriften. - His colleagues have already carried out all the tests, and in the meantime our sales department has received new instructions.
Alle Familienangehörigen waren gerade beim Abendessen, da klopfte jemand an der Tür. - All family members were just having dinner when someone knocked on the door.
In addition to the above-mentioned conjunctions, “wann”, an interrogative pronoun, can also be used to express temporary relations, for example:
Wann bekomme ich meinen Stempel? - When will I receive my stamp?
Jennifer weiß nicht, wann sie ihren Koffer bekommt. - Jennifer doesn't know when she will receive her suitcase.
There is a definite difference between "wann" and "wenn" and should not be confused. When the moment at which an event will occur is unknown, "wann" is used, for example:
Die Kinder wissen nicht, wann der Spiel beginnt. - The children don’t know when the game will start.
Wisst ihr, wann wir die nächste Lieferung bekommen? - Do you know when we will receive the next delivery?
Historical and futural present
When starting to learn German, the student first encounters simple forms of words and expressions that are used in the present tense. This is because it is difficult for a beginner to remember basic information about the construction of sentences, about the endings of verbs, about such an interesting part of speech in the German language as the article. At first, many people lose it, forget about it, because there is no analogue to it in the Russian language. Therefore, it is methodically correct to build your knowledge gradually, as they say, brick by brick.
The simplest tense form is the present tense Präsens. But at the very beginning, only its main meanings are studied:
An indication of an event that occurs at the moment of speech.
Z. B: Ich gehe in die Bibliothek. - I'm going to the library.
An action occurring at the moment of speech that has an indefinite duration.
Z. B.: Wir be suchen die Schule nur ein Jahr. - We have been attending school for only a year.
Everyone knows facts, for example, book titles.
Z. B.: Kerstin Gier „Robinrot. Liebe geht durch alle Zeiten.”
But, unfortunately, they always pay quick attention to additional meanings Präsens. These include:
The present tense of historical events, the so-called historical Präsens,
And the events that happened in terms of the future are futural present.
Historical presence is used to make the events of a historical past more real or to introduce the reader to that period so that he feels part of what is being said.
Z. B.: Der letzte preußische Posten ist passiert; der kleine Trupp marschiert über baumlose Landstraße, vorbei an den Feldern, auf denen Inseln mit Unkraut wuchern. (Bredel)
That is, the reader is directly transported to the time in which the events take place. It turns out that historical time lives in the present and the time frame is being shortened.
Die Londoner Literatur des 19. Jahrhunderts fängt an mit Charles Dickens (1812-1870); aber der gehört doch eher schon in die nächste, die viktorianische Epoche. (Die Zeit, 03.07.1992, Nr. 28)
Of course, the use of present in this case is not necessary; it can be replaced with the simple past tense, but then the vivid sense of perception of past events is lost. And also the transfer of the reader into the thick of events disappears.
There are the following forms of historical present:
“Report present” is different in that it is used to convey events that have just happened. If such information is conveyed using the preterite, then it will be necessary to indicate additional explanatory words that would clarify the period of what is happening in the recent past. This form describes events in a clear sequence.
"Imaginable" present is used to describe imaginary events that cannot be related to any time. For example, the names of paintings or stage directions in plays.
Approximation of real past events to real time:
Z. B: Gestern gehe ich die Einkaufsstraße hinunter, da sehe ich, wie zwei bewaffnete maskierte Männer aus der Bank gelaufen kommen.
Regarding futural present, it is necessary to take into account that in German there is some blurring between the present and future tenses in conversation. Therefore, the present tense is often used to mean the future in the presence of clearly defined words indicating an action that will happen soon (morgen, bald, in einer Zeit). In addition, most often this form concerns text that semantically refers to a planned action.
Of course, the futural present can be used without the above adverbs, then the context itself indicates the futureness of the action:
Wir halten Sie auf dem Laufenden. - We will keep you informed of events [“Stern”, 2004].
Or the adjective weiter can indicate that the action will take place in the future or sequentially:
Weitere Infos erhalten Sie bei Ihrem Skoda-Partner unter: www/octavia-combi/de etc.
["Der Spiegel", 2006].
Thus, semantically, the German language is characterized by an extended form of present.
Then another question arises: when is it worth returning to this important part of German grammar? For many methodologists, the answer will be very simple: when the student has mastered all the basic tense forms. It is then that it is fashionable to show the blurriness of the futural presence and the completeness of the historical.
The following tasks can be used as exercises:
Determine the temporal form of the text, indicate the differences between historical and futural presentation.
Describe these ongoing events using historical present. In other words, write some news.
Replace the future tense with the futural present form where necessary.
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All German grammar in human language!
The most important topics in German grammar (topics are best studied in the order in which they are published):
1. Constructing a sentence:
The German language has 3 schemes for constructing simple sentences. One way or another, any sentence in the German language fits into one of these schemes. First, let's remember a couple of terms: Subject - a noun in the nominative case (answering the question who? what?). The predicate is a verb. Circumstance - answers the question how, where, when, why,.... In other words, the circumstance clarifies the proposal. Examples of circumstances: today, after work, in Berlin, ...
And here are the proposal diagrams themselves:
- Subject -> predicate -> circumstances and everything else -> second verb, if present in the sentence.
- Circumstance -> predicate -> subject -> everything else -> second verb, if any
- (Question word) -> predicate -> subject -> everything else -> second verb, if any
2. Times:
There are 6 tenses in German (1 present, 3 past and 2 future):
Present tense (Präsens):
This is the simplest tense in German. To construct the present tense, you just need to put the verb in the correct conjugation:
Example: machen - to do
Examples:
Hans geht zur Arbeit. - Hans goes to work.
Der Computer arbeitet nicht. - Computer does not work.
Past tenses:
There are 3 past tenses in German. However, in fact, 2 times will be enough for you. The first is called "Präteritum" and the second "Perfekt". In most cases, both tenses are translated the same way into Russian. In official correspondence and in books "Präteritum" is used. In oral speech, "Perfekt" is usually used, although sometimes "Präteritum" is used.
Präteritum:
Here we first encounter the concept of regular (strong) and irregular (weak) verbs. The forms of regular verbs change according to a clear pattern. Forms of irregular verbs need to be memorized. You will find them in.
Regular verb: machen (Infinitiv) -> machte (Präteritum)
Conjugations of the verb machen in Präteritum:
Examples:
"Du machtest die Hausaufgabe!" - “You did your homework!”
"Du spieltest Fussball" - "You played football"
Irregular verb gehen (Infinitiv) -> ging (Präteritum)
Example:
"Du gingst nach Hause!" - “You were going home!”
Future tenses:
In German there are "Futur l" and "Futur ll" for the future tense. The Germans do not use “Futur ll” at all, and they usually replace “Futur ll” with the present tense (Präsens) indicating the future as a clarification.
Example: "Morgen gehen wir ins Kino." - "Tomorrow we are going to the cinema."
If you indicate a circumstance of the future tense (tomorrow, soon, in a week, etc.), then you can safely use the present tense to express plans for the future.
If we still consider the time “Futur l”, then it is constructed as follows:
Subject -> auxiliary verb "werden" -> everything else -> semantic verb in the form "Infinitiv".
Example: "Wir werden ins Kino gehen." - "We'll go to the cinema."(verbatim: "We're going to the cinema.")
Conjugations of the verb "werden"
3. Cases:
Cases]
4. Compound and compound sentences:
words, it is impossible to ask a question to them. They only convey all sorts of emotions without naming them specifically, for example:
Hurra! Er hat gewonnen! - Hooray! He won!
3. The system of tense forms in the German language.
German verbs are significant part speech, the peculiarity of which is change in numbers (singular and plural), persons (1-2-3), moods (imperative, subjunctive and indicative), voices (passive and active) and tenses. The general concept of time in German corresponds to Russian - the action can take place in the past, future or present, only there are slightly more future and past tenses in German than in Russian.
Verb tenses in German are distributed as follows: there is one form of the present, two of the future and three of the past, that is, in total There are six temporary forms (two simple and four complex).
Euer Fahrer parkt jetzt hinter der Garage. – Your driver is now parking behind the garage. (Here is the simple present Präsens).
Meine Hausgehilfin wird morgen allesaufräumen. - My housekeeper will clean everything tomorrow. (The complex future Futurum I is used here).
Wenn ihr morgen zurückkehrt, wird sie die Wohnung bestensaufgeräumt haben . - When you return tomorrow (at your arrival), she will clean the apartment in the most the best way. (Here we use the complex future Futurum II, which is infrequent in German speech, used in cases requiring appropriate coordination of tenses).
Gestern tapezierten sie das kleinste Zimmer in ihrem Haus. -
Yesterday they wallpapered the smallest room in their house. (Here the verb is in the simple past Imperfekt /
Präteritum).
Im Waldsee haben unsere Kinder wunderschöngebadet. - IN
Our children had a great swim in the forest lake. (The complex form of the past Perfect is used here).
Als Peter das Elternhaus erreichte, hatten die Gäste schon allesaufgegessen undausgetrunken . – When Peter got to his parents’ house, the guests had already eaten and drank everything. (Here the verb
stands in the past complex Plusquamperfekt, necessary to coordinate tenses in the past).
Why and in what cases are different tenses of German verbs used, and what they mean.
The simple present Präsens reflects states, processes or actions that exist, occur or are performed at the current moment in time. This tense is called simple insofar as the predicate is expressed in the personal form of the semantic verb without the participation of service verbs. This time can also be used to convey actions, states, and processes into the future. In such cases, the future of what is happening is indicated by the corresponding adverbs and various phrases, for example: then - danach, the day after tomorrow - übermorgen, nach dem Vertragsablauf - after the end of the contract, etc.
The simple past Imperfekt / Präteritum is also expressed by the personal form of the semantic verb in a given tense (Imperfekt / Präteritum) and serves primarily to formulate monologue speech - stories, descriptions, etc.
The complex past Perfekt is formed by semantic verbs (in the form Partizip II) with the help of corresponding auxiliary verbs (sein or haben) in the personal form
V Präsens, and is used mainly in dialogues and short messages himself different plans. German verbs do not have such a grammatical category as aspect, so Perfekt can mean either a completed or an unfinished action in the past.
The complex past Plusquamperfekt is also formed by semantic verbs (in the form Partizip II) using the personal form of auxiliary verbs (sein or haben), but standing in Präteritum. At its core, Plusquamperfekt precedes the action in Perfekt and for this reason is called “pre-antecedent”. This tense is used in sentences where it is necessary to convey any action or state that took place in the past before another action or state mentioned in the same sentence, that is, the purpose of Plusquamperfekt is to convey not an independent, but a relative action.
Futur I, which represents the complex future, is formed using the personal form of the auxiliary verb werden and the Infinitiv of the semantic verb and is very often replaced in speech by the simple present Präsens.
Futur II, which is also a complex future, also consists of the service verb werden in the personal form and the semantic verb in the Infinitiv II form. This tense, like Plusquamperfekt, is intended to convey the relativity of an action, that is, it denotes an action that ends in the future before any other.
I. Present tense (Gegenwart) and past tense
Unlike the past, the present tense in German is expressed in one form - Präsens. It is formed from the stem of the infinitive + personal endings of verbs.
A feature of the verb system of the German language is the presence of strong and weak verbs. Depending on what type it belongs to definite verb, depends on the conjugation of the verb in German. Most verbs exhibit qualities of the weak type, and the changes in their grammatical forms can be generally reduced to a simple general table, to which there are only a number of small clarifications.
Verb conjugation in German: Präsens and Präteritum of weak verbs
ending | suffix + | ending | suffix + |
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ending | ending |
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From the table above it can be seen that the difference between Präteritum and Präsens is the absence of a personal verb ending in the third and first person singular - these two forms are the same. For a number of verbs that have certain vowel letters at the end of the stem - -m, d, -n, -t - the ending acquires an additional vowel letter “e” to ensure ease of pronunciation of the word. This happens when verbs are conjugated in all cases of the second person and in the third person singular in Präsens, for example:
Du redest immer nur über deine Familie. - You always talk only about your family. (Here we add an “e” to make pronunciation easier. The same is observed in the following examples).
Mein Bruder öffnet seinen Kühlschrank jede fünf Minuten. –
My brother opens his refrigerator every five minutes.
Ihr mietet eine Wohnung, ohne den Besitzer kennengelernt zu haben. – You rent an apartment without meeting the owner.
In the relatively few verbs that end the stem with vowels -s, -z, -ss, -x, the second-person ending Präsens is characterized by the loss of “s” at the end of “st”, for example:
Mit deinen Fragen reizt du immer meine Neugier. “You always spark my curiosity with your questions.” (Here we have a drop of the “s” in the second person Singular).
Du bezahlst keine Rechnungen. -You don't pay any bills. (In this example, we are not dropping the “s” in the second person Singular).
Verbs with the infinitive form ending in -eln lose the “e”
V first person Singular, and in first/third Plural a personal ending is added-n instead of the traditional -en, for example:
An seiner Tür klingle ich schon zehn Minuten. – I’ve been ringing his doorbell for ten minutes now (the first person of Singular).
Warum lächeln sie immer, wenn ich komme? – Why do they always smile when I come (third person Plural)?
Wir sprudeln heute wie verrückt. – Today we are spouting witticisms like crazy (first person of Plural).
For rare verbs with the infinitive form ending in –ern, the conjugation occurs in the same way as in the previous case described above, but in addition to this, in the first person Singular there may be another valid form without losing the “e”, for example:
Heute rudere/rudre ich nicht, ich habe Blasen an meinen
Handen. – Today I won’t row (steer the boat) – I have calluses on my hands. (The first option is more typical for literary German, and the second is inherent in colloquial German speech).
Strong verbs differ from weak verbal units in that they do not have a suffix in Präteritum, and when declension and formation of the main verb forms there is a characteristic change in the root vowels, and sometimes consonants, for example:
Dieser Beamte verspricht mir seine Unterstützung. “This official promises me his support.” (The third person Singular is formed from the infinitive versprechen with the vowel change of the root e
® i).
Euer Kind zerbrach die Lieblingstasse meiner Oma. – Your child broke my grandmother’s favorite cup. (As demonstrated in this example, the addition of a formative suffix of the form Präteritum –(e)te, as happens when conjugating weak verbs in German, does not occur with the strong verb “zerbrechen.”)
Ihr Vater ging zu seinem Rechtsanwalt. “Her father went to his lawyer. (The Präteritum form of the verb gehen demonstrates the alternation of vowels and consonants in the word root, as well as the characteristic lack of a personal ending in the third person Singular Präteritum).
The conjugation of strong verbs in German can be schematically presented in the form of the table below.
Verb conjugation in German: changing the personal endings of strong verbs
ending | ending | ending | ending |
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This conjugation table for strong verbs in German demonstrates only the personal endings acquired by verbs. The conjugation of strong German verbs from the point of view of root changes is not subject to special generalization, since it is based on only a number of certain patterns. For this reason, the basic verb forms and the characteristic changes in the root of such verbs during conjugation must be learned on the basis of any of the numerous tables of strong verbs. Such tables represent these not particularly numerous representatives of the German verbal system, both from the point of view of the formation of the three main forms, and from the position of dividing strong verbs into separate rows (die Ablautreihen), demonstrating the general patterns of vowel alternation within individual verb groups.
In addition to the already considered temporary form imperfect (Präteritum), to express actions, events and states,
Completed by the time of speech in the German language, there are two more temporary forms:
perfect (Perfekt),
plusquaperfect, or long past tense
(Plusquamperfekt).
Education and use of perfect (Perfekt).
The perfect is formed with the help of personal forms auxiliary verbs haben and sein (see paragraph 4 of this reference book) and past participle (Partizip II). In this case, the verb sein is used with verbs denoting movement
(gehen, fahren, laufen, etc.) and change of state (verreisen, umziehen, auswandern, etc.), and with the verb bleiben.
Past participles (Partizip II) of weak verbs are formed from the stem of the infinitive using the prefix ge- and the ending –t. As for strong and irregular verbs, participles can be found in the third column of the special table.
leb -en – | ich habe ge-leb-t | |||
du hast ge-leb-t | ||||
er/sie/es/man hat ge- |
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leb-t | ||||
wir haben ge- leb -t |
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ge-leb -t | ||||
leb-t | ||||
les-en- | ich habe gelesen | |||
du hast gelesen | ||||
wir haben gelesen |
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ihr habt gelesen | ||||
ich bin ge- land- e-t |
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ge-land-e-t | du bist ge-land- e-t |
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ist ge- |
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land-e-t | |||
wir sind ge-land- e-t |
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ihr seid ge-land- e-t |
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ge-land- |
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ich bin gegangen |
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du best gegangen |
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wir sind gegangen |
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ihr seid gegangen |
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sie/Sie sind gegangen |
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The perfect is usually used in oral speech to express actions and events completed in the past, but related to the present (unlike the imperfect).
Gestern bin ich ganzen Tag im Bett geblieben. Ich habe schon dieses Buch gelesen.
However, this rule is not absolute: for example, in fiction you can find the perfect next to the preterite. The main thing to remember at this stage of study: the perfect is used in oral speech, the imperfect in written speech.
In addition, it is important to know and understand that, unlike Russian, in the past tense in German there is no distinction between process and result (the perfect and imperfect forms we are used to).
Formation and use of the plusquaperfect
(Plusquamperfekt).
This temporary form is used quite rarely; it is usually replaced by the previous two. This time denotes an action that was performed a long time ago or preceded some other action. Usually used to emphasize the sequence of two actions.
Nachdem ich meine Hausaufgaben gemacht hatte, spielte ich mit
Freunden draußen.
This tense form is formed using the auxiliary verbs haben and sein in the IMPERFECT and the past participle.
arbeiten – ich hatte gearbeitet, du hattest gearbeitet, er/sie/es/man hatte gearbeitet…
bleiben – ich war geblieben, du warst geblieben, er/sie/es/man war geblieben…
III. Future tense (Zukunft).
Considering the tenses of verbs in German, it is necessary to dwell on such forms as
Futurum II (FII).
Education and Use (FI)
FI is formed using the personal forms of the verb werden + infinitive:
Ich werde arbeiten, leben, studieren…Du wirst arbeiten, leben, studieren…
Er/sie/es/man wird arbeiten, leben, studieren…Wir werden arbeiten, leben, studieren…
Ihr werdet arbeiten, leben, studieren…Sie/Sie werden arbeiten, leben, studieren…
Lesson 21. Clock, Time.
Lecture 21. Uhr, Zeit.
Sufficient attention must be paid to the topic “Clocks”, because you need it, and only then for an exam or test.
Clock - Uhr
Kurz vor/nach - short from/after We are speaking - 2-3 minutes past two.(14:02-03) Or we say - 2-3 minutes to three. (14:57-58)
The Germans say - shortly after two.(14:02-03) Or the Germans say - short from three.(14:57-58) That is, we call minutes, but the Germans simply say (kurz vor/nach) brieflyfrom/after - this refers to 1 - 4 minutes. Of course, if you ask exactly, they will tell you exactly the minutes, and also the schedule at train stations, buses, planes, cinemas, and so on - they always announce exactly, minute by minute. From 0 to 5 minutes they say minutes or kurz (shortly) nach / after.
For example, 15:04 - Kurz nach drei/15 - shortly after three/15. Starting from 5 minutes to 25 it says nach / after and hour.
For example, 15:20 - 20 nach drei/15 - 20 after three/15.
Exception: 25 - this figure can be said as 25 nach/after drei/15 (15:25)or fünf vor halb v…
German text level A1 - Mein Wochenende.
Mein Wochenende. Am Samstag waren wir im Wald. Wir sind mit dem Fahrrad gefahren und dann sind wir ins Schwimmbad gegangen. Im Schwimmbad haben wir viel gebaden. Nach dem Schwimmbad haben wir den Orangensaft getrunken. Am Abend hat meine Frau einen Kuchen gebacken. Wir haben den Kuchen gegessen. Mein Sohn liebt den Kuchen. Nach dem Abendessen haben wir mit dem Ball gespielt.
Das ist mein Wochenende!
My weekend. On Saturday we were in the forest. We rode bicycles and then we went to the pool. We swam a lot in the pool. After the pool we drank orange juice. In the evening my wife baked a pie. We ate it. My son loves pie very much. After dinner we played with a ball. It's my weekend!
Perfect is the most commonly used past tense in the German language. His education needs to be learned first. After all, it is used in colloquial speech and Everyday life. This is the tense you will almost always use when talking about the past in German.
Auxiliary verbs are used to form the perfect.haben orsein+ participle II(Partizip ll, 3rd form of the verb) semantic verb.
Auxiliary verbs haben orsein are not translated, they are only a variable part of the predicate. The meaning of the entire predicate depends on the meaning of the verb appearing in the form participles(Partizip ll, 3rd form of the verb), which is its unchangeable part and stands at the end of the sentence.
Ich habe diesels Buch gelesen. — I read this book.
Er ist early Berlin gefahren. — He came to Berlin.
Do not forget, Partizip ll comes at the end of the sentence, picture to remember:
So, to form Perfect, you need to conjugate the auxiliary verb haben orsein(it comes in second place in the sentence), form correctly participle 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 figure it out!
First let's review the verb conjugationsseinAndhaben. You need to know these two signs by heart.
Verbs with " sein"
With an auxiliary verbseinused:
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, a 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 (happen, occur), gelingen (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 ist über den Kanal geschwommen. (= movement towards a specific goal)
Er hat zehn Minuten im Fluss geschwommen. (= movement in a confined space, without indicating the purpose of movement)
Verbs with "
haben"
The rest of the verbs form the perfect withhaben:
1. all verbs, accusative case managers(=transitive verbs):
bauen, fragen, essen, hören, lieben, machen, öffnen, etc.
2. everything reflexive verbs:
sich beschäftigen, sich bemühen, sich rasieren, etc.
3. everything modal verbs:
dürfen, können, mögen, müssen, sollen, wollen.
4. Intransitive verbs,denoting continuous actions or states. These include:
a) verbs that combine with adverbs of place and time, but do not imply a change of place, state or movement in space:
hängen (= strong verb), liegen, sitzen, stehen, stecken, arbeiten, leben, schlafen, wachen, etc.
b) control verbs dative case, not indicating movement: antworten, danken, drohen, gefallen, glauben, nützen, schaden, vertrauen, etc.
c) verbs anfangen, aufhören, beginnen, denoting the beginning and end of an action.
In southern Germany, the verbs liegen, sitzen, stehen are used in the perfect with sein.
The components of the perfect have a single meaning and are not translated separately. Therefore, when you see the auxiliary verb haben or sein in a sentence, must be found at the end of the sentence the second part of a complex shape (participle II) and translate them into one word - a verb in the past tense. When translating, you need to pay attention to the order of words.
For example: Mein Bruder ist nach Moscow gefahren. - My brother went to Moscow. - For translation you need to “go” to the end of the sentence, but “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 verb conjugation in the perfect:
arbeiten - to work
ich habe gearbeitet
du hast gearbeitet
er hat gearbeitet
wir haben gearbeitet
ihr habt gearbeitet