Skip to main content

Past Tenses Practice and Rules

Past Tense



Just like the English present tense, the past tense has three forms:

habitual.                               I spoke German.

incomplete             I was speaking German.

emphatic                       I did speak German.



Like the German present tense, the German past tense has only one form that is translated into any of the three forms in English:


Ich sprach Deutsch. I spoke German. I was speaking German. I did speak German.


The German past tense is used primarily as a written form, although it exists in the spoken language. The present perfect tense, which will be taken up in Chapter 15, is more commonly used in the spoken language to express a past-tense idea.


Regular verbs

The past-tense conjugation of regular verbs consists of the stem of the infinitive attached to the suffix -te with the appropriate conjugational ending. Notice that the third-person singular (er, sie, es = he,she, it) is illustrated here by the pronoun er. The third-person plural sie (they) and Sie (you formal) are
illustrated by the pronoun sie. When singular sie cannot be differentiated from plural sie, they will be identified as sie s. and sie pl. respectively. Let’s look at some example verbs.

 kaufen (buy) reisen (travel) bestellen (order)
ich       kaufte     reiste         bestellte
du        kauftest   reistest    bestelltest
er         kaufte       reiste       bestellte
wir       kauften     reisten     bestellten
ihr       kauftet       reistet     bestelltet
sie      kauften      reisten     bestellten



If a verb stem ends in -t or -d, an -e is added before the conjugational ending.

 For example:

                 arbeiten (work) enden (end)
ich           arbeitete             endete
du            arbeitetest         endetest
er             arbeitete            endete
wir           arbeiteten         endeten
ihr            arbeitetet         endetet
sie           arbeiteten        endeten



Irregular verbs

German irregular verbs do what many English irregular verbs do: they form the past tense not by a suffix but by a vowel or stem change. Look at how the German and English infinitives change to the
irregular past tense:

 irregular     past      English    irregular past
kommen     kam      come       came
singen        sang      sing         sang
sprechen   sprach   speak     spoke


When you know the irregular past-tense stem, you are ready to place the appropriate conjugational endings on the stem. The irregular past tense of most verbs does not require the -te suffix.  

      For example:

      springen (jump) rufen (call) fliegen (fly)
ich    sprang                 rief              flog
du     sprangst             riefst           flogst
er      sprang                 rief              flog
wir     sprangen           riefen          flogen
ihr      sprangt              rieft             flogt
sie     sprangen           riefen          flogen

Notice that the first- and third-person singular (ich, er, sie, es) do not require an ending in the irregular past tense.


The following is a list of commonly used irregular verbs with their past-tense formations:



infinitive                  past tense
bleiben.                     blieb.            stayed
essen                          aß               ate
fahren                        fuhr             traveled
fallen                          fiel              fell
geben                        gab             gave
gehen                       ging            went
helfen                       half              helped
laufen                       lief                ran
lesen                        las                read
nehmen                  nahm            took
schlafen                 schlief         slept
schlagen                schlug          hit
schreiben               schrieb      wrote
stehen                    stand         stood
tragen                  trug wore,    carried


It is important to look specifically at haben, sein, and werden, because they play an important role in the formation of other tenses as well as have a function when they stand alone. Their irregular
past-tense conjugations are:



    haben (have) sein (be) werden (become)
ich         hatte        war          wurde
du.         hattest     warst      wurdest
er           hatte         war         wurde
wir         hatten        waren     wurden
ihr        hattet            wart      wurdet
sie       hatten          waren     wurden


Some irregular verbs require the suffix -te. They not only make a vowel change in the stem, but they also require a suffix with the appropriate conjugational endings.

 For example:
 senden (send) nennen (name) rennen (run)
ich      sandte       nannte         rannte
du       sandtest    nanntest.    ranntest
er         sandte       nannte         rannte
wir      sandten      nannten      rannten
ihr       sandtet       nanntet      ranntet
sie       sandten      nannten     rannten





Download pdf file for more rules and practice 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GERMAN LANGUAGE; A1 Level Full Course

If your are wants to learn German language, we need to start from basic that is A1 level then A2. Similarly B1,B2 intermediate level and C1 and C2 is native level. This blog helps reader to get every useful knowledge and makes them perfect learner of basic German. Alphabet: Kardinal Nummer: 0 = null 1= Eins 2= Zwei 3=drei 4=Vier 5=Fünf 6=sechs 7=sieben 8=acht 9=neun 10=zehn 11=elf 12= zwolf After 12 numbers is written like this  E.g 13 =3+10 ,so 3=drei ,10=zehn it become dreizehn 13= dreizehn 14=vierzehn 15=fünfzehn 16=sechzehn 17=siebzehn 18=achtzehn 19=neunzehn 20=zwanzig Similarly 13, 21 also written  21(1+20)= einundzwanzig 22=zweiundzwanzig 23= dreiundzwanzig 24=vierundzwanzig 25=fünfundzwanzig 26=sechundzwanzig 27=siebenundzwanzig 28=achtundzwanzig 29=neunundzwanzig 30=dreißig How we say 21-29 follow same pattern for all numbers 40=vierzig 50=fünfzig 60=sechzig 70=siebzig 80=achtzig 100=hundert 1000=tausend Watch this video Months - Monate Januar- January Februar- Februa...
3 comments
Read more

German Grammar Drill 1; Perfect for Beginners (Artikel)

Note: Book pdf is at end, you can download it. Determining Gender For the most part, the gender of English nouns is based upon being male, female, or an inanimate object. German is similar only in a small degree. Many nouns that refer to males or females are masculine or feminine respectively. But this similarity to English soon ends. The gender of most German nouns can be determined by examining their makeup. Certain prefixes, suffixes, and structural elements are signals that a noun is a specific gender. And that gender doesn’t necessarily have to do with the noun being male, female, or inanimate. Masculine nouns can be identified by the following characteristics:  1. Nouns that refer to males: der Vater, der Junge (father, boy)  2. Many nouns that end in -er, -en, and -el: der Lehrer, der Wagen, der Mantel (teacher, car, coat)  3. Days of the week, months, and seasons: der Montag, der Januar, der Herbst (Monday, January, autumn)  4. Foreign words with the accent ...
Post a Comment
Read more

German Grammar; Future Tense

Future Tenses Like other tenses in English, the future tense has more than one form: habitual   I will go to school. incomplete or progressive  I will be going to school. Both forms are translated into German by a single future-tense conjugation, which consists of the present-tense conjugation of werden and an infinitive located at the end of the sentence.  For example: Ich werde zur Schule gehen.  I’ll go to school. Er wird seinen Onkel besuchen.  He’ll visit his uncle. Die Männer werden Karten spielen.  The men will play cards. Another way to express the future tense in German is by a present-tense conjugation where the future tense is inferred or understood by the context or because of an adverb accompanying the verb. For example: Was macht ihr morgen? Wir fahren  What are you doing tomorrow?  in die Stadt.  We’re driving to the city. Fährt euer Vater auch mit?  Will your father be going along? Ich habe nächste Woche eine Prüfung....
Post a Comment
Read more