German/Grammar/Verbs

Verbs
German verbs can be classified as weak or as strong. Weak verbs are very regular in their forms, whereas strong verbs change the stem vowel.

Weak: kaufen, kaufte, gekauft

Strong: singen, sang, gesungen

With its Anglo-Saxon origin, this notion is also present in English.

flip, flipped, flipped sing, sang, sung

Some German verbs have weak and strong forms. This may depend on meaning:

Der Botschafter wurde nach Berlin gesandt. Der Süddeutsche Rundfunk sendete ein Konzert aus dem Gasteig.

Or on transitive vs. intransitive use:

Das Hemd hing auf der Wäscheleine. Sie hängte das Hemd auf die Wäscheleine.

Strong Verbs

 * Liste der starken und unregelmässigen Verben

Separable Verbs
Sometimes you will run into verbs such as anrufen, aufräumen, mitkommen. These verbs are examples of Separable Prefix Verbs. When you see these kinds of verbs, it will have a preposition prefix followed by a verb. These verbs separate when they are the main verb of a sentence.

EXAMPLES:

I am calling the butcher. Ich rufe den Metzger an.

I am trying on the boots. Ich probiere die Stiefel an.

Reflexive Verbs
Reflexive Verbs are verbs involving the reflexive pronoun "sich" and its conjugations that reflect, or refer back, to the performer of the action. There are only accusative and dative reflexive pronouns.

Accusative reflexive pronouns are used when there is no direct object. Dative reflexive pronouns are used when a direct object is present. However, when using a direct object, the possessive is not used.

Examples:
 * Accusative: Ich verletze mich. I injure myself.
 * Dative: Ich verletze mir die Hand. I injure my hand.


 * Accusative: Er hat sich verbrannt. He burned himself.
 * Dative: Er hat sich den Daumen verbrannt. He burned his thumb.

Notice that all reflexives are the same as the Akkusativ and Dativ Pronoun Declensions — except for 3rd Person and 2nd sg./pl. Person formal (man/sie/Sie), in which case all reflexives are sich.

Dürfen
Dürfen means to be allowed/permitted, may.

Examples: Darf ich einen Freund zum Fest bringen? May I bring a friend to the party? Man darf hier nicht rauchen. One is not allowed to smoke here. Niemand durfte die Stadt verlassen. No one was allowed to leave the city.

Können
können means 'to be able, capable'. It is cognate with the English word 'can'/'could'.

Examples: Ich kann das nicht tun. I can't do it. Wir konnten sie nicht erreichen. We could not reach them.

Mögen
mögen expresses a pleasure, or desire. In the present tense, it is used transitively with people or food. e.g. 'Ich mag dich' 'I like you' or 'Ich mag Erdbeeren' 'I like strawberries'. The subjunctive (of the past) expresses preference to perform the action of a subordinate clause 'Ich möchte nach Frankreich reisen' 'I would like to travel to France'. 'mögen' is cognate with the English verb 'may'/'might'.

Example: Ich möchte nach Deutschland reisen. I would like to travel to Germany.

(There is also a present subjunctive möge, which is very formal: Der König sagte: "Er möge eintreten." - The king said: "He may enter.")

Müssen
müssen expresses something forced on you. It is etymologically related to 'must'.

Examples: Ich muss nicht arbeiten. ~ Ich brauche nicht zu arbeiten. I don't have to work. Ich darf nicht arbeiten. I must not work.

Note that the negative nicht müssen is not the English must not, but rather need not or don't have/need to. must not translates to nicht dürfen.

There are however some northern German uses like: Du musst das nicht tun meaning Du solltest das nicht tun.

Sollen
sollen expresses an obligation or duty. It is etymologically related to 'shall'.

Wollen
wollen means to want.

Use in Perfect (and Pluperfect) Tense
Although all these modals have a normal perfect: gedurft gekonnt gemocht gemusst gesollt

in connection with other verbs, the infinitive form is used: Ich habe das tun dürfen - können - mögen - müssen - sollen.

Wrong: Ich habe das tun gedurft - gekonnt - gemocht - gemusst - gesollt.

It holds also for the verbs sehen and hören: Ich habe ihn kommen sehen - hören.

Use of modal verbs as full verbs
Modal verbs can be used as full verbs indicating motion. In these cases, the infinitive verb is only implied. Er muss nach Berlin. (implied: gehen or fahren) He must go to Berlin.

Use
The Present Tense is used for..


 * The Present Tense (="das Präsens") is used to describe situations that are happening and aren't the past.


 * For Ongoing Action, like I'm swimming in the pool now


 * Everyday Truths, like The moon and stars will come at night.


 * Future meaning, if explicitly stated, like I will run tomorrow morning


 * Actions started in the past and still going on in the present I've been cleaning the house all day

Progressive Forms
There is a present progressive tense in colloquial spoken German. Its use is optional.

Here is one example:

Ich bin am Fahren. (I am at the driving) I'm driving.

The person to say this would be driving during the time they say this and they would continue to drive after stating this for some time.

You nominalize the verb ("fahren" (driving) becomes "das Fahren") and add a "am". You can also do this with forms of the past.

Als er kam war ich gerade am Abwaschen. (When he arrived i was at "the dishwashing") I was washing the dishes when he arrived.

So the verb "sein" (to be) includes the information what tense he was doing what he did in.

Here the progressive meaning is also emphasized with the word "gerade" meaning something like: I was JUST ABOUT to wash the dishes(not the same though because it means he is already doing it and not about to start).

Perfect Tense
The Perfect Tense or das Perfekt of verbs is used to talk about things in the past which have already happened. It is sometimes referred to as "Present Perfect Tense". This can cause confusion. While the formation is similar, the meaning and usage differs.

Formation
As in English, the perfect tense consists of two parts. An auxiliary (Hilfsverb) and a past participle (Partizip Perfekt). Compare the examples given below with their English translations.

Past participle for regular verbs
The general rule is simple:

There are some groups of regular verbs that slightly differ from that pattern.

Some verbs drop the prefix ge-. Like the other regular verbs they end in -t. These are:

1. Verbs with unseparable prefixes (be-, ent-, er-, empf-, ge-, ver-, miss-, zer-) Examples:

2. Verbs ending in -ieren Examples:

3. Another group is formed by verbs with separable prefixes With separable verbs, the prefix ge is placed between the prefix and the rest of the verb. Examples:

Separable and inseparable verbs are distinguished by the stressed syllable:

Er hat das Buch ins Chinesische übersetzt. Der Fährmann hat den Passagier übergesetzt (über den Fluss gesetzt).

Past Participle for Irregular Verbs
Irregular verbs always end in -en. The vowel can be different from the one in present tense. Look at some examples:

You have to learn these forms by heart. How you can obtain the necessary information and how you should learn them is described in section tips for learning below.

Note that irregular verbs can be combined with the same prefixes as described above. The same rules regarding the prefix ge- apply. Therefore the forms for schreiben, verschreiben and aufschreiben are geschrieben, verschrieben and aufgeschrieben respectively.

Which verbs are irregular
A lot of verbs that are irregular in English are irregular in German, too. Unfortunately, this is not always true. It is most likely when the German and the English verb are related (i.e. look similar).

Examples: see:   irregular   sehen:    irregular buy:   irregular   kaufen:   regular get:   irregular   bekommen: irregular ;-)

Regular verbs are much more frequent than irregular ones, but a lot of the irregular verbs are used very frequently, for instance haben, sein, gehen, kommen etc.

When in doubt whether a verb is irregular or not, it is best to look it up in a dictionary (See below).

Haben or sein as auxiliaries
Whether a verb is irregular or not does not influence the choice of auxiliary.

Most verbs take haben as auxiliary.

A) Verbs which take an accusative object (transitive verbs) B) Reflexive verbs always take haben as auxiliary.

Examples A: trinken: Er hat ein Bier getrunken. lesen:  Sie hat ein Buch gelesen kochen  Sie haben gestern Spaghetti gekocht.

Examples B: sich freuen  Ich habe mich gefreut sich kämmen  Er hat sich gekämmt sich ärgern  Wir haben uns schon lange nicht mehr so geärgert.

The auxiliary sein is taken by verbs that describe
 * C) the relocation from one place to another or
 * D) the change of a state
 * and with
 * E) sein (be) and bleiben (stay)

Note: none of the verbs from groups C-E is combined with an accusative object.

Examples C: relocation verbs verb              aux. irregular sentence with perfect tense kommen (come)     sein  yes        Ich bin gekommen. reisen (travel)   sein  no         Wir sind schon dreimal nach China gereist. fahren (drive)    sein  yes        Ich bin mit dem Auto nach Kalifornien gefahren. begegnen (meet)   sein  no         Er ist ihm gestern begegnet. gehen (go)        sein  yes        Du bist gegangen. starten (take off) sein yes        Das Flugzeug ist gestartet.

In southern German (mostly Bavarian) use, also stehen, sitzen und schwimmen are treated like a (non-)movement: Ich bin gestanden - gesessen - geschwommen. High German is: Ich habe gestanden - gesessen - geschwommen. Aber: Ich habe den See durchschwommen.

Examples D: change of state verbs verb                       aux. irr. sentence with perfect tense aufstehen (get up)         sein   yes     Ich bin heute früh aufgestanden. einschlafen (fall asleep)  sein   yes     Die Kinder sind endlich eingeschlafen. verblühen (whither)        sein   no      Die Blumen sind schon verblüht

Examples E: sein and bleiben Er ist nicht lange geblieben. He didn't stay long. Er ist immer nett gewesen. He has always been nice.

Exceptions to the rules Some of the verbs from group A can be used with an object in accusative case. In this case, they take haben as auxiliary.

Compare: Ich bin nach Kalifornien gefahren. I drove to California. Ich bin mit dem Auto nach Kalifornien gefahren. I drove to California by car (literally: with the car) Ich habe das Auto (Akk.) nach Kalifornien gefahren. I drove the car to California.

The same applies to fliegen (fly), starten and reiten (ride a horse).

Usage
Unlike in English the difference in meaning between Perfekt and Präteritum is rather small. The main difference between those two forms lies in usage. Perfekt is mostly used in spoken language, while Präteritum is mostly reserved for written texts. However, the modals, the verbs haben and sein and the expression es gibt are almost exclusively used in Präteritum - even when speaking. One reason might be the frequency of those verbs, the other reason is most likely the very complex perfect forms for modals.

(This is in southern German use; in northern German, you'll hear the preterite also in spoken language.)

On the other hand, the perfect tense is used in writing too. The more oral the text is, the more perfect tense you will find (for example in personal letters etc.). If an action has happened very recently, it tends to be in perfect tense too.

Look at the following conversation and concentrate on the distribution of Präteritum and Perfekt.

(1) Anna: Hallo Peter. Wo warst du denn? Ich habe dich schon lange nicht mehr gesehen. (2) Peter: Hallo Anna. Ich war die letzen zwei Wochen im Urlaub. (3) Anna: So? Wo warst du denn genau? (4) Peter: Auf der Insel Elba, in einem fantastischen Hotel. Es gab jeden Abend ein Büffet und man konnte essen, so viel man wollte! (5) Anna (lacht): Ich glaube dir sofort, dass dir das gefallen hat. Du hast aber nicht nur gegessen, oder? Was hast du denn den ganzen Tag gemacht? (6) Peter (lacht auch): Nein, natürlich nicht. Ich bin viel geschwommen, ich habe mir die Insel angeguckt und am Abend bin ich immer zum Tanzen in eine Disco gegangen. (7) Anna: Aha... Und? Hast du jemanden kennen gelernt? (8) Peter (grinst): Kein Kommentar. 

Vocablary to help you understand the text: der Urlaub, -e  vacation genau           exactly, precisely die Insel, -n   island das Büffet, -s  buffet gefallen        like angucken        to look at (colloquial) kennen lernen   get to know grinsen         grin

Used forms to talk about past events Präteritum        Perfekt du warst (1/3)    habe gesehen (1) ich war (2)       es hat gefallen (5) es gab (4)        du hast gegessen (5) konnte (4)        du hast gemacht (5) wollte (4)        ich bin geschwommen (6) ich habe angeguckt (6) ich bin gegangen (6) du hast kennen gelernt

How to find the forms in a dictionary
Unless you have a special dictionary for learners, not all the forms will be spelled out. Regular forms are often omitted. The same goes for the auxiliary haben. If no forms are indicated, you may assume that the verb is regular and has the verb haben as an auxiliary. However, if you find the abbreviation itr or i. (for intransitive) behind the verb, the auxiliary is often sein. Intransitve verbs don't have an accusative object and these are often used with sein, while transitive verbs (tr. or t.) are always conjugated with haben.

Sometimes not even the forms of irregular verbs are given in the lexicon entry. Irregular verbs are often indicated by irr. for irregular or a similar abbreviation. In that case, look for a list of irregular verb forms in the index of your dictionary.

To find the past participle of separable verbs you often have to cut the prefix and look for the base form of the verb. If you look for aufstehen (get up), you probably find your answer in the entry of stehen. Remember: The prefix ge goes in between the prefix of the separable verb and the verb itself: auf + ge + standen.

When working online, you might consider using Canoo. Enter an arbitrary form of the word you are interested in into the mask. Hit enter. On the results page, choose the link Flexion behind the appropriate entry (or inflection in the English version). You will get a table of all possible verb forms.

Tips for learning
Irregular forms are just that - irregular. Therefore you have to learn them by heart. By learning four forms, you can construct every verb form for a given verb.

The forms you should know are: Infinitiv   Präsens          Präteritum    Hilfsverb  + Partizip Perfekt infinitiv   3rd person       preterite     auxiliary  + past participle gehen       geht             ging          ist        + gegangen nehmen      nimmt            nahm          hat        + genommen fahren      fährt            fuhr          ist        + gefahren lesen       liest            las           hat        + gelesen essen       isst             aß            hat        + gegessen kommen      kommt            kam           ist        + gekommen bleiben     bleibt           blieb         ist        + geblieben sein        ist              war           ist        + gewesen anfangen    fängt ... an     fing ... an  hat        + angefangen ...

All forms - besides the infinitive of course - should be in 3rd-person singular.

A good way to learn those forms is to put them on small cards. On one side you write the infinitive and probably a sentence to illustrate the usage of the verb. On the backside you put the rest of the forms and - if needed - a translation of the verb. When learning, you look at the infinitve and try to remember the forms and the meaning. You can easily verify your hypothesis by flipping the card.

If you encounter a verb you want to learn, look it up in a dictionary. If it is irregular, learn the verb together with its defining forms. Like that, you spare yourself a lot of trouble later on.

Sentence Structure
The perfect tense consists of two verb forms: an auxiliary and a past participle. Together they form the so called predicate. The predicate consists of all verb parts in one clause.

The sentence structure in perfect behaves as with every two parts predicate (modals plus infinitive, separable verbs etc.)

Main Clauses
In a main clause (Hauptsatz), the conjugated verb (the auxiliary in this case) is in the second position and the past participle stands at the end of the clause.

First Position (I)      (II) 1) Sein Vater              hat  gestern ein fantastisches Essen gekocht. 2) Gestern                  hat  sein Vater ein fantastisches Essen gekocht. Both: Yesterday, his father cooked a fantastic meal. 3) Ein fantastisches Essen hat  sein Vater gestern gekocht.*    It was a fantastic meal that his father cooked yesterday. * The third example is correct, although not very frequent. You might use it if you want to stress what exactly his father has prepared or if you have to repeat the sentence because your partner has not understood this particular part of it.

Second position does not equal second word, as you can see above. However, there is only one group of words allowed before the conjugated verb (the auxiliary in this case). Such groups of words are called "phrases". While you can put very long phrases in front of the conjugated verb, you must not use two. Therefore the sentence "Gestern sein Vater hat ein fantastisches Essen gekocht" is wrong.

Subordinated Clauses
Subordinated clauses begin with a subordinating conjunction. Well known conjunctions of this kind are weil dass  wenn.

* In spoken language weil is often used like und or aber, which means that it is followed by a main clause. However, after weil, speakers often pause for a little while. There is no pause after either und or aber. Weil + main clause is not allowed in written language. Therefore you may say: Ich gehe, weil - (little pause) - ich bin müde. But you wouldn't use it in a letter. At least not yet. The correct conjunction for a main clause is denn, which is rarely used in spoken language.

In subordinated clauses the conjugated verb, i.e. the auxiliary, stands at the very end of the sentence. The past participle stands directly in front of it. For example: conj. aux. participle aux. Ich weiß,        dass  du      das             gemacht     hast. Ich glaube dir,  weil  du      bisher noch nie gelogen     hast. Ich glaube dir,  denn  du hast bisher noch nie gelogen. Ich gehe,        wenn  du                      gegangen    bist.

Regular verbs
Regular (or better, weak) verbs take the ending -te. The person endings are added afterwards. Note that the forms for 1st- and 3rd-person singular are the same.

If the stem of a verb (infinitive minus -en) ends in -t (arbeit-en), -d (end-en) or consonant plus m or n (öffn-en, rechn-en) you add an -e before the preterite endings.

Without -te
The strong verbs belong to this group. The endings are easy to memorize. It is harder to know which vowel to use. The rule mentioned above for t/d, double-consonant + n/m applies also for irregular verbs.

gehen, ging, gegangen stehen, stand, gestanden

With -te
Few irregular verbs take the -te ending. Examples are: nennen, rennen, kennen, bringen, denken and the irregular modals (können, dürfen and müssen).

Talking about future with the present tense
German uses the Present Tense to talk about the future whenever it is clear to both speaker and listener that the future is meant. In the dialogue example:

Wenn du zu Hause bleibst, kommen wir dich besuchen. If you stay at home, we shall come and visit you.

The whole conversation is about the future, so there is no need to indicate it again in the tense of the verb.

Some more examples:

Ich schreibe den Brief heute Abend. I will write the letter this evening. Wir gehen nächstes Jahr nach Spanien. We will go to Spain next year.

Futur I
Where the meaning would not otherwise be clear, and in more formal language, e.g. to express an intention, German talks about the future tense by using werden plus the infinitive at the end of the clause. The forms of werden are: ich werde du wirst er/sie/es/man wird wir werden ihr werdet sie/Sie werden

Examples: Ich werde ein Haus bauen. I shall build a house. (an intention) Wir werden sehen. We will see.

The future can also express some inescapable fate: Sie werden alle umkommen. They will all perish.

Future II
The Future II is formed with added "sein" oder "haben" and expresses that one action will happen before another one. Wenn sie das Abendessen gekocht haben wird, werden sie kommen. When she will have cooked the dinner, they will come. In the colloquial language, the perfect is often used for that.

In the colloquial language expresses the Future II often a speculation about the past.

Sie werden angekommen sein. literally "they will have arrived" - meaning "(I gather) they have arrived (by now)"

Sie werden es gemacht haben. "they will have done it"

In the colloquial language, the Futur II is normally used when speaking about something that should have happened already, but you are not sure or you can't prove it.

Alemán/Gramática/Verbos Germană/Gramatică/Verbe