Conjugation of German verbs (past tense)

 1. The past. (Die Vergangenheit)

- there are basically two ways to express an action that happened in the past: - using imperfect tense (but this is used mostly in literature) - using perfect tense with "haben" and "sein" which is the most common, and it is also called "the spoken past"

a.    German simple past tense - imperfect tense (Präteritum)

Conjugation of regular verbs (imperfect tense)

- it is fomred by adding the following endings to the root (also calles stem) of the verbs:

	Singular	Plural
Person I	- te	- ten
Person II	- test	- tet
Person III	- te	- ten

 

   Let's conjugate the verg ”to sing” = ”singen”

   singen + an ending from the above table

	Singular	Plural
Person I	ich singte	wir singten
Person II	du singtest	ihr singtet
Person III	er, sie, es singte	sie, Sie singten

 Translation would be: I/you/he, she, it/we/they/you sang

- There is a category of verbs in the frame of both regular and irregular verbs wich conjugation is made a bit differently

This verbs, after the elimination of the ending "-en", if they are ending in “t”, “d”,” m” or “n” we introduce the vowel "e" between the root and the endings for all persons singular and plural.

Examples of this kind of verbs: antworten = to answer; arbeiten = to work; atmen = to breathe; begegnen = to meet;beobachten = to observe; bilden = toformulate; bitten = to invite; finden = to find; heiraten = to marry; mieten = to rent;öffnen = to open; rechnen = to calculate; reden = to speak; retten = to save; trocknen = to get dry; warten = to wait;zeichnen = to draw etc.

Let's see an example 

The verb ”to talk” = ”reden”

reden + e + an ending from the above table

	Singular	Plural
Person I	ich redete	wir redeten
Person II	du redetest	ihr redetet
Person III	er, sie, es redete	sie, Sie redeten

Translation would be: I/you/he, she, it/we/they/you talked

Conjugation of irregular verbs (imperfect tense)

Some verbs like "haben", "sein" and "werden" are very often used in their imperfect form. Also „wissen”, „denken”, „lassen”, „gehen”, „fahren” and „bringen” could also play the role of an auxiliary, they are also often met in their imperfect form. That's why it is very important to learn their conjugation.

-    while conjugating, the irregular verbs change their vowels

infinitive	Imperfect (Präteritum)	ich	du	er, sie, es	wir	ihr	sie, Sie
sein = to be	waren	war	warst	war	waren	wart	waren
haben = to have	hatten	hatte	hattest	hatte	hatten	hattet	hatten
werden = to become	wurden	wurde	wurdest	wurde	wurden	wurdet	wurden
wissen = to know	wussten	wusste	wusstest	wusste	wussten	wusstet	wussten
denken = to think	dachten	dachte	dachtest	dachte	dachten	dachtet	dachten
gehen = to walk	gingen	ging	gingst	ging	gingen	gingt	gingen
fahren = to drive	fuhren	fuhr	fuhrst	fuhr	fuhren	fuhrt	fuhren
bringen = to bring	brachten	brachte	brachtest	brachte	brachten	brachtet	brachten
lassen = to leave	ließen	ließ	ließt	ließ	ließen	ließt	ließen

 

-     the imperfect tense is the tense of telling (we meet it more in literature)

 

b. German past tense - the perfect tense (Vollendete Gegenwart)

o   The perfect tense if formed with the help of two auxiliary verbs „haben“ (to have) or „sein“ (to be) and the *past participle of the verb.

o  In a sentence the auxiliary verb (haben or sein) stands always before the verb we want to conjugate.

o   The perfect tense is the most used tense to express actions and events happened in the past, it is laso calles "the spoken past"

- it is translated in english with the simple past tense and also with the perfect past tense: "I habe gelesen" = I read/I have read (both translations are right)

The past participle of the verb is obtained by the following rules:

- Regular verbs:

We add to the *root of the verb the prefix "ge-" and the ending "-(e)t"

„ge-” + „root of the verb” + „-(e)t”

The root of the verb is obtained by cuttin the ending "-en" from the infinitive verb

Example:

to ask = "fragen", the root will be fragen = farg, now we have to add the prefix and the ending, we obtain "ge-" + frag + "(e)t" results in gefragt

Another example:

to work = "arbeiten",  „ge-” + arbeit + „-et” results in gearbeitet

 

-   Irregular verbs:

We add to the root of the verb the prefix "ge-" and the ending "en"

„ge-”+ „root of the verb” + „-en”

Most of the time in the root of the verb a change of vowel is taking place:

Example:

fliegen = to fly, in this example "ie" becomes "o": ie → o, „ge-” + flog + „-en” results geflogen

schließen = a inchide, ie → o, „ge-” + schloß + „-en” results geschloßen

singen = a canta, i → u, „ge-” + sung + „-en” results gesungen

This can be learned only by practicing!

- verbs that end in "-ieren" will get only the ending "-t"

Rule: root of the verb + „-t"

Exemple:

trainieren = to train, trainier + „-t” results trainiert

regieren = to reign, regier + „-t” results regiert

 

In order to perform a conjugation in the past tense we need to know the present tense conjugation of "sein" (to be) and "haben" (to have).

 

sein	haben
ich bin = I am du bist = you are er, sie, es ist = he, she, it is wir sind = we are ihr seid = you are sie, Sie sind = they/you are	ich habe = I have du hast = you have er, sie, es hat = he, she, it has wir haben = we have ihr habt = you have sie, Sie haben = they/you have

 

Very important! Some verbs are conjugated with "sein" others with "haben", and there are also verbs that can be conjugated with both "haben" and "sein".

 

Conjugation of regular verbs with „haben”

Rule: „haben” + „ge-” + root of the verb + „-(e)t”

 

hören = to listen/to hear

„haben“ + „ge-“ + hören + „-t“ results „haben“ gehört

hören = to listen
1st person singular	ich habe gehört = I have listened
2nd person singular	du hast gehört = you have listened
3rd person singular	er, sie, es haben gehört = he, she, it has listened
1st person plural	wir haben gehört = we have listened
2nd person plural	ihr habt gehört = you have listened
3rd person plural	sie, Sie haben gehört = they have listened / you have listened

Conjugation of irregular verbs with „haben”

Rule: „haben” + „ge-” + root of the verb + „-en”

Remember! The root of the verb suffers a vowel change

 

schreiben = to write

vowel change: ei → ie

„haben” + „ge-” schrieb + „-en” results „haben” geschrieben

 

schreiben = to write
1st person singular	ich habe geschrieben = I have written
2nd person singular	du hast geschrieben = you have written
3rd person singular	er, sie, es haben geschrieben = he, she, it has written
1st person plural	wir haben geschrieben = we have written
2nd person plural	ihr habt geschrieben = you have writtten
3rd person plural	sie, Sie haben geschrieben = they have written / you have written

 

 

Conjugation of regular verbs with „sein”

Rule: „sein” + „ge-” + root of the verb + „-(e)t”

 

baden = to bathe

„sein” + „ge-” + bad + „-et” results „sein” gebadet

 

baden = to bathe
1st person singular	ich bin gebadet = I have bathed
2nd person singular	du bist gebadet = you have bathed
3rd person singular	er, sie, es ist gebadet = he, she, it had bathed
1st person plural	wir sind gebadet = we have bathed
2nd person plural	ihr seid gebadet = you have bathed
3rd person plural	sie, Sie sind gebadet = they have bathed / you have bathed

 

 

Conjugation of irregular verbs with „sein”

 

Reule: „sein” + „ge-” + root of the verb + „-(e)t”

-   most of the time a change of vowel takes place

 

fliegen = to fly

Change of vowel: ie → o

„sein” + „ge-” + flog + „-(e)t” results „sein” geflogen

 

fliegen = to fly
1st person singular	ich bin geflogen = I have flied
2nd person singular	du bist geflogen = you have flied
3rd person singular	er, sie, es ist geflogen = he, she, it has flied
1st person plural	wir sind geflogen = we have flied
2nd person plural	ihr seid geflogen = you have flied
3rd person plural	sie, Sie sind geflogen  = they have flied / you have flied

 

 

There are verbs with can be conjugated with both "haben" or "sein"

 

fahren = to drive / to travel

„sein” + „ge-” + fahr + „-en” results „sein” gefahren

 

fahren = to drive / to travel
1st person singular	ich bin gefahren = I have driven
2nd person singular	du bist gefahren = you have driven
3rd person singular	er, sie, es ist gefahren = he, she, is has driven
1st person plural	wir sind gefahren = we have driven
2nd person plural	ihr seid gefahren = you have driven
3rd person plural	sie, Sie sind gefahren = they have driven / you have driven

 

The same verb with „haben“

„haben” + „ge-” + fahr + „-en” results „haben” gefahren

 

fahren = to drive / to travel
1st person singular	ich habe gefahren = I have driven
2nd person singular	du hast gefahren = you have driven
3rd person singular	er, sie, es hat gefahren = he, she, is has driven
1st person plural	wir haben gefahren = we have driven
2nd person plural	ihr habt gefahren = you have driven
3rd person plural	sie, Sie haben gefahren = they have driven / you have driven

 

Remember! Many motion verbs can be conjugated with both "haben" and "sein": fahren (to drive), fliegen (to fly), bummeln (to walk) etc.