​Regular German verbs follow an easy-to-learn and predictable pattern in both past tenses (simple past, present perfect). PastTenses is a database of English verbs. In German it’s the same, except that sometimes sein (to be) is used instead of haben (to have). There are six tenses in German: the present and past are conjugated, and there are four compound tenses. fotografieren, fotografierte. Present. All regular German verbs have a basic past participle form based on the third person singular form. wir lern en. ihr lernt. Since these are all irregular verbs, their stems cannot be deduced from the base verb, as it happens with regular verbs. The perfect tense (das Perfekt) is one of the past tenses in German. Taking some time to make sentences using each irregular verb form will help you to use these verbs correctly when speaking and writing. These are the verbs that have stem-vowel changes in one or more of the tenses. To conjugate weak or regular verbs in the simple past, add "te" to the verb ending, and then add the present tense personal conjugation ending. … The best thing is to simply memorize what group each verb belongs to as you study the different tenses in German. "He played" thus becomes er spielte. Now let's look at all the conjugations of spielen in the simple past tense. The regular present tense verb endings are: -e, -st, -t, -en, -t, -en. By using ThoughtCo, you accept our, Present Tense Verb Conjugations of German Regular Verbs, The Two German Past Tenses and How to Use Them, How to Conjugate "Stehen" (to Stand) in German, How to Conjugate "Geben" (to Give) in German, How to Conjugate the German Verb "Laufen" (to Run, Walk), How to Conjugate the Verb "Helfen" (to Help), German Verb Conjugation of Sprechen (To Speak), Schreiben (To Write) German Verb Conjugations, How to Conjugate "Beginnen" (to Begin) in German, How to Conjugate the German Verb "Heissen" (to Call), Es spielte keine Rolle. There are two categories of verbs in German: weak and strong. The past perfect tense is built by using the past tense of haben or sein and an infinitive verb. Regular Verbs. Strong Verbs Strong verbs are flexible and go with the time. So, for the endings in the German past tense, let’s have a look at the following table. ich sehe. Strong verbs indicate tense by a change in the quality of a vowel, while weak verbs indicate tense by the addition of an ending. German perfect tense. The irregular verbs don't follow the same rules in the past, but since most German verbs are regular, this makes your learning task somewhat simpler. Yes, I have written it. We’ll be doing lots of fun things with this list with posts in the coming weeks. German has two past tenses, which we are calling “Perfekt” and “Präteritum” in this course, and there are no differences in meaning between them. One can check verbs forms in different tenses. requires its own ending on the verb. These are the verbs with no stem-vowel changes in any tense. 1 Using reflexive verbs. ihr lernt. The following verbs have a regular conjugation pattern in the present tense and you can see the past participle form in the brackets. But there was. aufgewacht. Some grammars use the term mixed verbs to refer to weak verbs with irregularities. The best thing is to simply memorize what group each verb belongs to as you study the different tenses in German. Simply click on one of the links below for an in-depth explanation complete with interactive exercises. Core Vocabulary for Learners, which lists the 4034 (!) Note that for verbs that end in "t" or "d," "ete" must be used instead of "te" for phonological reasons. They take –te endings in Simple Past and Subjunctive II, and -t endings for their past participles: sagen, sagte, (habe) gesagt; einkaufen, kaufte ein, (habe) eingekauft; wandern, wanderte, (bin) gewandert. Present tense of modal verbs. To talk about the past, you will mostly use the perfect tense. Let's see how they are conjugated in the present tense. vanesssamofu. Find some short examples in the table below. Most English verbs form their past tense by adding the suffix – ed (example: play ed), and German regular verbs behave similarly, by adding the suffix – t – (or, when pronounceability requires it, – et-). 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