This page contains a table including the following: German Verbs and tenses. Try to memorize the way they're used because they're very important in communication, and might be very helpful to convey your most important expressions. Make sure to check our Learn German page, which contains several lessons that might help you in your learning process. |
A verb in German as well as in English is a word that represents an action or a state of being. (go, strike, travel, and exist are examples of verbs). A verb is the essential part of the predicate of a sentence. The grammatical forms of verbs include number, person, and tense. Some examples are:
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| English Verbs | German Verbs |
|---|---|
| my friend travels with his wife | Mein Freund reist mit seiner Frau |
| my friends travel with their friends | Meine Freunde reisen mit ihren Freunden |
| I traveled with my friends | Ich reiste mit meinen Freunden |
| She will travel with her friends | Sie wird mit ihren Freunden reisen |
| I have to feed my cat | Ich muss die Katze füttern |
| Do you speak Spanish? | Sprichst du Spanisch? |
As you can see, the table above shows the German verbs in the present tense, the past tense, and the future tense, and also as a question (interrogative form).
The present tense in German is the form of the verb that may be used to express: action at the present, a state of being; an occurrence in the (very) near future; or an action that occurred in the past and continues up to the present. Most German infinitives end in -en, some in -n only: gehen, wandern, lächeln.
The stem is the infinitive minus this ending -en or -n, therefore:
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| English | German Present Tense |
|---|---|
| I speak | Ich spreche |
| You speak | Du sprichst |
| He speaks | Er spricht |
| She speaks | Sie spricht |
| It speaks | Es spricht |
| We speak | Wir sprechen |
| They speak | Sie sprechen |
The past tense in German is a verb tense expressing action, activity, state or being in the past of the current moment (in an absolute tense system), or prior to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future (in a relative tense system). Simple past tense is used all the time in newspapers, books, and so on, but it is less common in speech. One exception is the simple past tense of sein (zyn) (to be). This is often used in preference to perfect tense in both speech and writing. Here is an example:
| English | German Past Tense |
|---|---|
| I traveled | Er reiste |
| You traveled | Du reiste |
| He traveled | Er reiste |
| She traveled | Sie reiste |
| It traveled | Es reiste |
| We traveled | Wir reisten |
| They traveled | Sie reisten |
Perfect tense is the main past tense used in spoken German. It is very versatile: You can use it to talk about most actions and situations in the past.
Most verbs form the perfect tense with the verb haben (have).
Certain verbs require sein (to be) instead of haben (to have) to form the perfect tense. These verbs often describe some form of movement or a state.
| English | German Perfect Tense |
|---|---|
| I went | Ich bin gegangen |
| You went | Du bist gegangen |
| He went | Er ist gegangen |
| She went | Sie ist gegangen |
| It went | Es ist gegangen |
| We went | Wir sind gegangen |
| They went | Sie sind gegangen |
In German, the future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future (in an absolute tense term), or to happen subsequent to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future (in a relative tense term). The future tense is simple to form in German. Just use the present tense forms of werden and put the other infinitive to the end of the sentence. Here is an example:
| English | German Future Tense |
|---|---|
| I will go | Ich werde gehen |
| You will go | Du wirst gehen |
| He will go | Er wird gehen |
| She will go | Sie wird gehen |
| It will go | Es wird gehen |
| We will go | Wir werden gehen |
| They will go | Sie werden gehen |
Below is a vocabulary training for verbs in German (Deutsch), try to memorize the verbs below, because they’re very important and used daily.
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| Vocaublary | German Verbs |
|---|---|
| Arrive | Ankommen |
| Ask | Fragen |
| Be | Sein |
| Become | Werden |
| Begin | Beginnen |
| Break | Stoppen/brechen |
| Bring | Bringen |
| Build | Bauen |
| Burn | Brennen |
| Buy | Kaufen |
| Call | Rufen |
| Choose | Auswählen |
| Clean | Säubern |
| Close | Schließen |
| Come | Kommen |
| Cut | Schneiden |
| Dance | Tanzen |
| Do | Machen |
| Dream | Träumen |
| Drink | Trinken |
| Eat | Essen |
| Fall | Fallen |
| Find | Finden |
| Forget | Vergessen |
| Get | Bekommen |
| Go | Gehen |
| Hear | Hören |
| Help | Helfen |
| Kiss | Küssen |
| Know | Wissen |
| Laugh | Lachen |
| Learn | Lernen |
| Like | Mögen |
| Live | Leben |
| Look | Schauen |
| Love | Lieben |
| Make | Machen |
| Mean | Meinen |
| Meet | Treffen |
| Need | Brauchen |
| Open | öffnen |
| Play | Spielen |
| Push | Drücken |
| Read | Lesen |
| Remember | Erinnern |
| Return | Zurück bringen/ zurück kommen |
| Run | Rennen |
| Say | Sagen |
| See | Sehen |
| Sell | Verkaufen |
| Send | Verschicken |
| Sit | Sitzen |
| Sleep | Schlafen |
| Speak | Sprechen |
| Take | Nehmen |
| Talk | Sprechen |
| Teach | Lehren |
| Tell | Erzählen |
| Think | Denken |
| Understand | Verstehen |
| Wait | Warten |
| Want | Wollen |
| Work | Arbeiten |
I hope the content of this page was useful to you, and that you learned some German Verbs such as present tense, past tense, perfect tense and future tense..., try to memorize them to be able to use them in your daily conversation. Make sure to check our Learn German page, which contains several lessons that might help you in your learning process.
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