This booklet is to help you prepare for your GCSE German option next year

by revising all the tenses you have learnt in KS3. It will also be a very
useful reference guide when you are in KS4. You will be using it in your
German lessons and for homework for the rest of term.
Read the tense descriptions carefully and complete the exercises. Mrs
Meads will correct any exercises you complete.

1.The Present Tense (I do, I am doing)

So what is the Present Tense used for in German?
The Present Tense in German is used to talk about things that are happening at
the present time or about things which happen regularly or which you do often.
For example, in English, “I play football on a Saturday morning” and “I have a
dog” are both examples of the Present Tense.
How do I form the Present Tense?
The Present Tense in German is really not that difficult to form. There are
some simple rules that you need to know and learn which govern Weak Verbs,
and some basic principles concerning Strong Verbs which really help you to use
them. In addition there are few common Irregular Verbs that you need to learn.
That sounds pretty complicated to me!
Learners of German tend to think that verbs are difficult. I really do not think
that this is the case. If we address each section carefully, we can see patterns
and similarities, and reduce the whole thing to some simple rules.

Weak verbs in German are verbs which are obedient and follow all the rules
exactly in a given tense, in this case the Present Tense. They obey all patterns.
(They are a bit like what would be known as regular verbs in French.)
That sounds pretty straight forward. What about Strong Verbs then?

Strong Verbs are verbs which do not “conform” like weak verbs; rather they are
“strong” and “stand up for themselves”. Actually, they are not as strong as they
like to think they are, and in reality they do follow rules and patterns, but each
verb has a very slight difference.
So I guess they are like Irregular verbs in French, say?
No, they are not, which is why we do not use the term Irregular Verbs for them.
Strong verb do follow the basic rules, but they each have a very slight
difference in two of their forms, which needs to be learned for each verb.
Otherwise they are much the same as weak verbs.
So there are no Irregular verbs in German then?
The not so good news is that there are a number of verbs which are irregular in
the way they form the Present Tense. The good news is that there are not that
many of them and as they are frequently used verbs, they are not that difficult
to learn.
 What’s the rule with weak verbs then?
Weak verbs all follow this pattern:
• We take the infinitive form of the verb (that is, the form that we find in
the dictionary): for example let’s take “spielen” which means “to play”.
• We then take off the “-EN” from the end to form what we call the stem.
We then add on an ending as follows:

English Subject German Ending added spielen

Subject to Stem
I ich -e ich spiele

you (to a friend) du -st du spielst

he / she / it er / sie / -t er / sie / es

es spielt
we wir -en wir spielen

you (to more than one ihr -t ihr spielt

friend)
they / you (politely to sie / Sie -en sie / Sie
one or more people) spielen

Now if we look at that list of endings, we can simplify it down even further. We
notice that the “wir” and “sie / Sie” forms are actually the same as the
infinitive, which makes them very easy to work out. The “er / sie / es” and “ihr”
forms are the same in that they both take a “t” on the end. That just leaves the
“ich” and “du” forms.

Do all verbs end in “-EN” in the infinitive then?

The vast majority of verbs do indeed end in “-EN” in the infinitive. There are a
few exceptions. For example, verbs which end in “-ELN” such as “sammeln” (to
collect), “angeln” (to fish) and “segeln” (to sail) follow the same pattern with
slight changes:

English Subject German Ending added sammeln

Subject to Stem
I ich -e ich sammle
you (to a friend) du -st du sammelst
he / she / it er / sie / es -t er / sie / es
sammelt
we wir -en wir sammeln
you (to more than one friend) ihr -t ihr sammelt
they / You (politely to one or sie / Sie -en sie / Sie
more people) sammeln
 • The only real difference here is that the “ich” form has lost an extra “e”
from the infinitive. In addition, there was no “E” to take off the
infinitive, so we just took off the “N”. Not that hard really!
• In addition, the stem of some verbs (the bit with the “EN” taken off)
ends in a “D” or “T”. In this case, we add an extra “E” in the du and er /
sie / es and ihr forms, for ease of pronunciation.

finden (to arbeiten (to

find) work)
ich finde arbeite
du findest arbeitest

er / sie / findet arbeitet

es
wir finden arbeiten
ihr findet arbeitet
sie / Sie finden arbeiten

OK. So what about these Strong Verbs then?

• I said above that Strong verbs are the same as weak verbs in most ways,
but that they have a change in a couple of parts. There really is no need
for stress where Strong Verbs are concerned!
• Let’s look at an example, and I’ll show you what I mean. The verb “fahren”
is a strong verb and it means “to go” or “to travel” by a means of
transport. It is a very frequently used verb. Here it is in the Present
Tense:

English Subject German Ending added fahren

Subject to Stem
I ich -e ich fahre
you (to a friend) du -st du fährst
he / she / it er / sie / -t er / sie / es
es fährt
we wir -en wir fahren
you (to more than one ihr -t ihr fahrt
friend)
they / You (politely to sie / Sie -en sie / Sie
one or more people) fahren

The first thing that we notice is that the endings are exactly the same as for a
weak verb. Result! I told you this was simple! The only difference is that in the
“du” and “er / sie / es” forms, there is what we call a vowel change which
changes the pronunciation.

All Strong Verbs follow this pattern of vowel change in those two parts only.
The endings are the same as for weak verbs. You do however have to learn which
verbs are Strong Verbs and what the vowel change is for each one, as there is
no way of telling from the verb itself. There are patterns and the more you
learn, the easier it becomes.

Here are some common Strong Verbs used at GCSE level in England:

The letter “a” gains an Umlaut in the “du” and “er / sie / es” forms:

fahren (to go, tragen (to schlafen (to

to travel) wear , to carry) sleep)
ich fahre trage schlafe
du fährst trägst schläfst

er / sie / es fährt trägt schläft

wir fahren tragen schlafen
ihr fahrt tragt schlaft
sie / Sie fahren tragen schlafen

waschen (to laufen (to run) gefallen (to

wash) please)
ich wasche laufe

du wäschst läufst

er / sie / es wäscht läuft gefällt

wir waschen laufen

ihr wascht lauft

sie / Sie waschen laufen gefallen

The letter “e” changes to “ie” in the “du” and “er / sie / es” forms:

sehen (to see) lesen (to read)

 ich sehe lese
du siehst liest

er / sie / es sieht liest

wir sehen lesen

ihr seht lest
sie / Sie sehen lesen

The letter “e” changes to an “i” in the “du” and “er / sie / es” forms:

geben (to give) essen (to eat) sprechen (to speak)

ich gebe esse spreche
du gibst isst sprichst

er / sie / es gibt helfen (to help)

isst treffenspricht
(to meet)

wir
ich geben helfe essen treffe sprechen
ihr
du gebt hilfst esst triffst sprecht
sie / Sie geben essen sprechen
er / sie / es hilft trifft
wir helfen treffen
ihr helft trefft
sie / Sie helfen treffen
 Not that difficult really then. Tell me about the irregular verbs.

There are a few verbs which are irregular and have to be learned individually.

haben (to sein (to werden (to nehmen (to

have) be) become) take)
ich habe bin werde nehme
du hast bist wirst nimmst

er / sie / es hat ist wird nimmt

wir haben sind werden nehmen
ihr habt seid werdet nehmt
sie / Sie haben sind werden nehmen

In addition, there are 6 modal verbs, which also follow their own pattern and
are slightly irregular. These are useful and frequently used verbs and are
followed by an infinitive in a sentence.

können (to be able to) wollen (to want to) müssen (to have to)
ich kann will muss
du kannst willst musst

er / sie / es kann will muss

wir können wollen müssen
ihr könnt wollt müsst
sie / Sie können wollen müssen

dürfen (to be allowed to) sollen (ought to / should) mögen (to like)

ich darf soll mag

du darfst sollst magst

er / sie / es darf soll mag

wir dürfen sollen mögen

ihr dürft sollt mögt

sie / Sie dürfen sollen mögen

SEPERABLE verbs are ones such as ‘fernsehen’ (to watch TV) and ‘aussehen’ (to
look like) which split up when you use them in the present tense. The first part
of the INFINITIVE goes to the end of the sentence and the main part of the
verb follows the SUBJECT PRONOUN in its ENDING form:
fernsehen>> ich sehe jeden Abend fern
 aussehen >> mein Vater sieht altmodisch aus.
So is that it then?
As far as GCSE in England is concerned, that should be everything you need to
know about formation of the present tense. There are a few other more
advanced complications, and of course you can find details of these in any
grammar book.
2 Perfect tense (I have done, I did)

2.1 There are 3 parts to the PERFECT TENSE:

1)SUBJECT PRONOUN 2) AUXILARY VERB (haben or sein) 3)PAST
PARTICIPLE

2.2 The AUXILARY verb (haben or sein) should match the SUBJECT
PRONOUN (see 1.6). Use HABEN in most cases, but SEIN if there is an idea
of MOVEMENT from one place to another.

3.3a The PAST PARTICIPLE is mostly formed by adding ge- to the start of
the INFINITIVE and by changing the final –en/-n to –t.

3.3b The PAST PARTICIPLE goes right at the end of the sentence.

3.3c You don’t add ge- to verbs beginning with be-, -ent-, er-, ge-, ver-,
zer-, or ending in ‘-ieren.

3.3d SEPERABLE VERBS put the ge- in the middle: e.g. auf/räumen >>
aufgeräumt

4.3e Many verbs have an IRREGULAR PAST went gegangen*

PARTICIPLE form >>>>> gefahren*
ate gegessen
drank getrunken
read gelesen
3.The Imperfect tense/ the simple past (I was saw gesehen
doing) stayed geblieben*

3.1 This best translates the English ‘WAS/WERE

doing’ something or to indicate that you USED to do
something. * sein

3.2 Take off the –en/ -n of the INFINITIVE and add these endings:
Ich te Ich spielte
Du test Du spieltest
Er/sie/es/man te Er/sie/es/man
3.3 The main verbs for you to use/know
spielte
in the imperfect form are:
Wir ten Wir spielten
Ihr tet Ihr spieltet Ich war = I was; Es war = It was
Sie/sie ten Sie/sie spielten Ich hatte = I had
Es gab = There was/were
Ich konnte = I could
Ich mußte = I had to
Ich wollte = I wanted to
Perfect & Imperfect tense exercises
 4. Future Tense (I will do)

4.1 WERDEN + INFINITIVE. Use the correct part of WERDEN (to indicate
you WILL do something) + the INFINITIVE (to indicate WHAT you will do)
goes at the END.

4.2 The verb table for WERDEN is:

Ich werde
Du wirst
Er/sie/es/man wird
Wir werden + INFINITIVE
Ihr werdet
Sie/sie werden Example: Ich werde morgen
nach Deutschland fahren

Future tense exercises

 5.Conditional ( I would do)

5.1 WÜRDEN + INFINITIVE. Use the correct part of WÜRDEN (to indicate
you WOULD do something) + the INFINITIVE (to indicate WHAT you would
do) goes at the END.

5.2 The verb table for WÜRDEN is:

Ich würde
Du würdest
Er/sie/es/man würde
Wir würden + INFINITVE
Ihr würdet
Sie/sie würden Example: Ich würde gern in Amerika wohnen.