Learn German with LearnningTree Part 6: German Verbs and tenses

Welcome back to the engaging and insightful Learn German with LearnningTree series. Today, we are exploring German verbs and tenses 📚🇩🇪.

Verb: To move

When it comes to traveling, Germans are all about precision and accuracy. It's not just about where you're going, but how you're getting there. If you're planning a trip to Italy next month, a typical German would want to know exactly how you plan to get there. Here’s how you can break it down:

1. By Foot 🚶‍♂️:

   If you’re walking to Italy, you’d say:Ich gehe nach Italien.

   
   

2. By Car, Bus, Bike, or Train 🚗🚌🚲🚆:

   When you're taking a more common form of transport, use:Ich fahre nach Italien.

   
   

3. By Plane ✈️:

   For those flying, simply say:Ich fliege nach Italien.

   
   

4. By Jogging 🏃‍♂️:

   Although less likely, if you’re feeling adventurous enough to jog your way to Italy, you could say:Ich laufe nach Italien.

   
   

5. By Sprinting 🏃‍♀️:

   And if you're super athletic and plan on sprinting there, you can go all in with:Ich renne nach Italien.

   
   

Germans have a way of making sure every detail is just right!

Past Perfect

In spoken German, we mostly use one past tense: das Perfekt. This is great news because it simplifies things when you're talking about the past! Here’s an example:

I ate an apple.→ Ich habe einen Apfel gegessen.

I have eaten an apple.→ Ich habe einen Apfel gegessen.

For the Perfekt, you will need:

• The auxiliary verb haben or sein

• The past participle of the verb

  
  

Here’s how it works:

Auxiliary verb	Past participle
Ich habe einen Apfel	gegessen.
Ich bin zur Arbeit	gefahren.

A common rule is to use sein if the action involves movement, and haben in all other cases. However, this can be misleading because many verbs involve some kind of movement but still use haben, not sein.

For example: to dance involves movement, but the auxiliary verb is haben:Ich habe getanzt.(I danced.)

So when do we use "sein"?

You use sein when the action involves:

a) A change of location: to go, to fly, to run, to walk, to swim, to drive

b) A change of state: to wake up, to fall asleep, to become, to die

Word Order in the Perfekt

In the Perfekt, the auxiliary verb stays in the second position, as usual. The past participle moves to the end of the sentence. If the sentence was a sandwich, your verbs would be the bread! 🍞

For example:Ich habe gestern drei Stunden mit meiner Mutter gesprochen.(I talked with my mother for three hours yesterday.)

Mark Twain once humorously described German sentence structure:

"Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him till he emerges on the other side of his Atlantic with his verb in his mouth."

-Mark Twain, "The Awful German Language"

Past Participles: Regular vs Irregular

Many past participles are irregular, but don’t worry – we’ll help you memorize them with a flashcard system, and you’ll master them in no time! For now, here’s a quick guide:

Regular Past Participles:

• hören → gehört

• glauben → geglaubt

• kochen → gekocht

• kosten → gekostet

• wohnen → gewohnt

• lernen → gelernt

• arbeiten → gearbeitet

• kaufen → gekauft

• brauchen → gebraucht

• mieten → gemietet

  
  

Irregular Past Participles: Most irregular forms end in -en.

With haben:

• finden → gefunden

• nehmen → genommen

• lesen → gelesen

• trinken → getrunken

• essen → gegessen

• schlafen → geschlafen

• helfen → geholfen

• schreiben → geschrieben

• treffen → getroffen

  
  

With sein:

• fahren → gefahren

• fliegen → geflogen

• kommen → gekommen

• gehen → gegangen

  
  

With sein where it’s not immediately clear why:

• bleiben → geblieben

• sein → gewesen

• werden → geworden

  
  

Now that you know the basics of the Perfekt tense, you’re one step closer to speaking like a native! ✨

Perfect tense: Questions

Asking Questions in the Perfekt Tense 🇩🇪

Asking questions in the Perfekt (past perfect tense) works in a way that’s very similar to asking questions in general.

A quick reminder: there are two types of questions in German:

1. Using a question word:Wo wohnst du?(Where do you live?)

2. Inverting subject and verb:Arbeitest du hier?(Do you work here?)

   
   

When asking questions about the past in the Perfekt, you can do the same. Here's how:

1. Using a question word, keeping the verb in second position:Wo hast du letztes Jahr gewohnt?(Where did you live last year?)

   
   

2. Yes/no-questions with subject-verb inversion:Hast du hier gearbeitet?(Did you work here?)

   
   

It’s as simple as that! Just apply the same rules to the past, and you’ll be asking questions in no time.

Dative Verbs

If you’ve ever said, "I’m hot," in English, you know how ambiguous that sentence can be. Are you talking about being sexy or just feeling warm? In German, the meaning is crystal clear, thanks to the wonderful dative!

Here’s the difference:

• Ich bin heiß.(I’m hot – looking hot )

• Mir ist heiß.(I’m hot – warm, literally "It is hot to me.")

  
  

The second sentence literally translates to It is hot to me. This is where the dative comes in. In German, we use the dative for indirect objects, and it often translates to "to me/you/her..." in English. But keep in mind, it’s not always obvious why.

We get it—declensions can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to understanding the difference between accusative and dative. But don’t worry! Here’s a handy list of the top 10 most common verbs that use the dative in German:

1. gefallen → Das gefällt mir. (I like that.)

   
   

2. helfen → Sie hilft ihm. (She helps him.)

   
   

3. schmecken → Pizza schmeckt ihr nicht. (She doesn’t like the taste of pizza.)

   
   

4. glauben → Sie glaubt ihm nicht. (She doesn’t believe him.)

   
   

5. geben → Er hat ihr einen Goldring gegeben. (He gave her a gold ring.)

   
   

6. gehören → Das gehört mir. (That belongs to me.)

   
   

7. weh tun → Mir tun die Augen weh. (My eyes hurt.)

   
   

8. danken → Ich danke dir für alles. (I thank you for everything.)

   
   

9. passieren → Das passiert mir immer. (That always happens to me.)

   
   

10. fehlen → Mir fehlen die Wörter. (I have no words.)

    
    

By remembering these verbs and using the dative correctly, you’ll avoid some of the most common mistakes in German!

And here are some typical mistakes that students often make:

• Ich bin/geht gut. → Mir geht’s gut.

• Ich helfe dich. → Ich helfe dir.

• Ich gebe dich meine Telefonnummer. → Ich gebe dir meine Telefonnummer.

• Ich gefalle diese Stadt. → Mir gefällt diese Stadt.

  
  

Overview: All Singular Personal Pronouns

Here’s a quick summary of how the personal pronouns change across different cases in German:

Nominative	Accusative	Dative
ich	mich	mir
du	dich	dir
er	ihn	ihm
sie	sie	ihr
es	es	ihm

Participle: verbs with prefixes

In German, some verbs require prefixes, like anfangen, aufstehen, and bekommen. These prefixes can either be separable or non-separable, and this affects how the verb is used in the past tense!

Let’s break it down:

Separable Verbs:

These verbs are separated in the sentence, and the prefix goes to the end. Here’s an example:aufstehen (to get up)

• Wann bist du heute aufgestanden?

  (When did you get up today?)

Notice how the prefix auf is separated from the verb stehen and moved to the end.

Non-Separable Verbs:

These verbs stay together, and the prefix doesn’t separate from the verb in the past tense. For example:bekommen (to get)

• Hast du meine Blumen bekommen?

  (Did you get my flowers?)

  
  

So, the separable verbs have the ge inserted between the prefix and the main verb, while non-separable verbs stay the same. It’s not always 100% predictable, but you’ll get the hang of it over time!

Here’s a quick overview of some common separable and non-separable verbs:

Separable	Non-Separable
aufstehen → aufgestanden	bekommen → bekommen
anfangen → angefangen	erklären → erklärt
aufräumen → aufgeräumt	verstehen → verstanden
zurückgehen → zurückgegangen	frühstücken → gefrühstückt

Verbes réguliers - Regular Verbs

The Präteritum: The Shorter Past Tense in German

While the Perfekt is the most commonly used past tense in German, for very frequently used verbs like sein (to be), Germans tend to prefer the shorter past tense, the Präteritum.

Here’s how the Präteritum works for sein:

Perfekt:

• Ich bin gewesen. → Ich war.

• Du bist gewesen. → Du warst.

• Er/sie/es ist gewesen. → Er/sie/es war.

• Wir sind gewesen. → Wir waren.

• Ihr seid gewesen. → Ihr wart.

• Sie/sie sind gewesen. → Sie/sie waren.

  
  

The Präteritum is mostly used in formal writing and literature, but in everyday spoken German, it's rarely used—except with a few common verbs.

The exceptions are:

• sein (to be)

• werden (to become)

• können (can/to be able to)

• wollen (to want)

• haben (to have)

  
  

In the upcoming lessons, we’ll dive into the Präteritum forms of these important verbs.

Stay tuned! we’ll be back to break it all down step by step as you go along. One thing at a time, and you'll see how everything fits together. Keep practicing, and before you know it, these concepts will start to feel much more manageable!

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