(In English, we can use the future or the present.) …a future action that is already determined to happen.He’s been playing football for two years. (Note that in this case, English uses the present perfect.)Įr spielt schon seit zwei Jahren Fußball. …an action that gives information on the duration of something.He goes to football training every Monday. Jeden Montag geht er zum Fußballtraining. … an action that takes place repeatedly or never takes place at all.

…a fact or condition in the present, or an action that takes place in the present.

This tense can actually be used to express concepts in three equivalent English tenses: the present, the present continuous, and the future (“will” and “going to” constructions). It can be used to talk about present actions or future actions that have already been determined. The present tense, or Präsens in German, is the most used of all the German verb tenses. Let’s look at each of these tenses in more detail with examples of how to conjugate them. In the German language, there are six main verb tenses:

The tenses of a verb are used to express when an action takes place, so they make all the difference when talking about the three concepts of present, past, and future. By the time you finish reading, you’ll know how to form German tenses, when to use each one, and more! Table of Contents We’ll try to explain each concept thoroughly in the following paragraphs. In particular, we’ll look at the main verb tenses in German and how to conjugate them for both regular and irregular verbs.ĭoes this all sound a bit complicated? Don’t worry. We’ll have a look at the main rules you need to know in order to use German verbs with no problems!

German verbs are one of the most challenging aspects of learning this beautifully complex language, but don’t worry. This is why it’s so important to give them due attention when learning a foreign language-especially German! Today, we’ll talk about German tenses and how to correctly apply them to verbs. They have to agree with the subject, which represents who or what is performing the action.īasically, every type of sentence requires a verb to be complete. They’re words that we use to describe actions ( singen – to sing), states of being ( existieren – to exist), or occurrences ( entwickeln – to develop). Together with nouns, verbs are the most important part of any sentence.

Present tense and past tense list