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

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 mirdie Hand. I injure my hand.

Accusative: Er hat sich verbrannt. He burned himself.

Dative: Er hat sichden Daumen verbrannt. He burned his thumb.

 Reflexiv Pronommen

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.

Modals

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.
müssten

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.

Er muss nach Berlin He must go to Berlin.

Present Tense

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.

Er                      hat                    gelacht.

He                     has                    laughed

SIe                     ist                       gekommen

She                    has                      come

Die  kinder            haben             gegessen.

The children         have                eaten.

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.
Er
He
Sie
She
Die Kinder
The children
hat
has
ist
has
gelacht.
laughed.
gekommen
come.
haben
have

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:

 verb                                                         past partiple

kopieren (copy)                                     kopiert                                                       

polieren (polish)                                    poliert

 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

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

 Examples E: sein and bleiben

 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:

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:

 Used forms to talk about past events

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 Canoo1. 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:

 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.

81.8 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:

Past tense

Regular verbs
gegangen
bist.

Regular (or better, weak) verbs take the ending-te. The person endings are added after
wards. 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.

 Irregular verbs

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).

Future Tense

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.