Conjugation of German verbs (past tense)
1. The past. (Die Vergangenheit)
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 |
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 verbExample:
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-“ + hörhören = 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.