German Grammar: tenses, persons, numbers, & moods (defined in English)

Indicative: "he does it" Conditional: "he would do it" Imperative: "Do It!"

Examples of Moods in German

the Futur I tense is similar to our future tense; it uses werden the same way we use "will" in English: "I will read it" --> Ich werde es lesen. But note that we have other ways of expressing the future in English (like I'm going to read it) that don't exist in German - and they also use the futuristic present tense in ways that we wouldn't. We'll cover this in detail in the section on Future Tenses.

Futur I

the Futur II is similar to the English future perfect, with will + have in English and werden + haben/sein in German: "I will have read it" --> Ich werde es gelesen haben.

Futur II

two(future tenses) future (Futur I), future perfect (Futur II)

How many "Future Tenses" are there in German and what are their names in English?

three(genders): masculine, feminine neutral

How many "Genders" are there in the German Grammar? What are their names in English?

four(Moods): indicative, conditional, imperative, subjunctive

How many "Moods" are there in German?

two(Numbers): singular plural

How many "Numbers" are there in German?

two(past tenses)" simple past (Präteritum, AKA: Imperfekt), past perfect (Plusquamperfekt)

How many "Past Tenses" are there in German and what are their names in English?

three(Persons): first person (I, me) second person (you) third person (them)

How many "Persons" are there in German?

two(present tenses): present (Präsens), present perfect (Perfekt),

How many "Present Tenses" are there in German and what are their names in English?

only two - the Präsens and Präteritum. in all other tenses need auxiliary verbs to make the main verb work.

How many "Tenses" are fully conjugated (meaning that they need no auxiliary verbs to be conjugated)

six(tenses): present (Präsens), present perfect (Perfekt), simple past (Präteritum, AKA: Imperfekt), past perfect (Plusquamperfekt), future (Futur I), future perfect (Futur II)

How many "Tenses" are there? What are their names in German?

four(cases): nominative, accusative, dative, genitive

How many "cases" are there in the German Grammar? What are their names in English?

two main(categories of Verbs): strong, and weak and three special(categories of verbs) auxiliary modal and mixed

How many "categories of Verbs" are there in German Grammar?

Finally, as in English, most of these tenses/moods also exist in a passive voice. Passive constructions in English usually (but not always) use a form of to be; in German they always use a form of the verb werden. This is the third major auxiliary usage of werden, after the Konjunktiv II and Futur usages mentioned above.

Passive

The Plusquamperfekt is directly related to the past perfect (also called the pluperfect) in English. It's used for an action that was already completed at some point in the past. It's formed the same way as the Perfekt, except that it uses the past (Präteritum) form of haben or sein instead of the present form.

Plusquamperfekt

The Präsens corresponds to the simple present tense in English ("I take the bus") as well as the "emphatic" ("I do take the bus"). It can also be used to refer to future events, in which case it's called the Futuristisches Präsens ("futuristic present"). We have a futuristic present in English too (e.g. "I get paid tomorrow" means "I will get paid tomorrow") but in German it's more common. And like all German verb forms, the Präsens can also translate to the equivalent continuous form in English, in this case "I am taking the bus."

Präsens

The Präteritum and Perfekt, as you can probably guess from their names, are closely related to the English preterite and perfect tenses. As described in the verb types at the beginning of this section, the Präteritum and English preterite are both formed with either a hard consonant ending (weak verbs), a vowel shift (strong verbs) or both (mixed verbs). The Perfekt is formed by conjugating the verb haben (or sometimes sein) in the present tense and adding the participle of the main verb, just the way we do with the verb "to have" in English. Again, these tenses do not translate directly between the two languages, despite their similar forms. In English we mainly use the preterite, but in spoken German the Perfekt dominates. We'll cover this in more detail in the Perfect vs. Preterite section.

Präteritum and Perfekt

The future perfect (Futur II, vollendete Zukunft) expresses the assumption that an action will have been completed by the time of speaking, or by a particular point in the future.

The Future Perfect (Futur II) in German Grammar

The future tense (Futur I) is mostly used to express assumptions about the present or future in German. We can also use this tense to express future intentions, although, in spoken German, it is more common to use the present tense for this. We can translate the future tense with the English tenses: simple present or future with will or going to.

The Future Tense (Futur I) in German Grammar

In German the subjunctive is called the Konjunktiv and there are two of them. Konjunktiv I—which is formed differently from its younger brother Konjunktiv II—is used chiefly for reporting indirect speech and old fashioned commands.

The German Subjunctive.

The Imperativ/Imperative mood is used for commands ("Go away!"; "Clean your room!"). It's the easiest mood to learn in either language, because it only exists in the present tense and the second person. In German (but not in English) the infinitive form of the verb can also be used as an imperative in some circumstances.

The Imperativ/Imperative mood

The Indikativ/Indicative mood is the most common in both languages, used for describing reality: things that have actually happened, are happening or are expected to happen.

The Indikativ/Indicative mood

Präsens and Präteritum

The Passive Voice

The past perfect or pluperfect (Plusquamperfekt) expresses actions that took place before a certain point in the past. It is the German equivalent of the English past perfect tense. We use this tense in storytelling together with the simple past, to look back at something that happened before a past event.

The Past Perfect/Pluperfect Tense (Plusquamperfekt) in German Grammar

The past tense, also called simple past or imperfect (Imperfekt or Präteritum), is used to express facts and actions that started and ended in the past. It is typically used to tell stories or report past events in written German. In spoken language, it is common to use the perfect tense instead of the past tense. We can use the English simple past to translate this tense.

The Past Tense (Imperfekt) in German Grammar

The perfect tense, also called present perfect (Perfekt), is a past tense. We use it to speak about actions completed in the recent past. In spoken German, the present perfect tense is often used instead of the past tense. We can translate the perfect tense using the English simple past tense.

The Perfect Tense (Perfekt) in German Grammar

The present tense also called the simple present (Präsens) is used to talk about the present and future in German. We can translate it into one of three English tenses: the simple present, present progressive and future with will or going to. It is the most commonly used tense in the German language.

The Present Tense (Präsens) in German Grammar

German verbs also have 4 moods: the indicative mood , the subjunctive mood, the conditional mood, and the imperative mood. Moods express the speaker's attitude toward what s/he is saying. While the indicative mood uses all 6 verb tenses, the subjunctive uses only 4 verb tenses, and the imperative has only 1 form.

What are moods used for in German?

The indicative mood is used to make factual statements, ask questions, or express opinions as if they were facts. Any verb tense may be deployed in the indicative mood. The following sentences are statements of fact or belief, so they are in the indicative mood: I saw something today that really annoyed me.

What is an indicative mood?

The German Subjunctive. In German the subjunctive is called the Konjunktiv and there are two of them. Konjunktiv I—which is formed differently from its younger brother Konjunktiv II—is used chiefly for reporting indirect speech and old fashioned commands.

What is subjunctive German?

The present and simple past use the present and past conjugations of werden, respectively: Die Wohnung wird durchsucht. The apartment is [being] searched. Die Wohnung wurde durchsucht. The apartment was searched. The Perfect tenses use sein with the participle and worden (a short form of werden's participle geworden). Remember that the Perfekt translates the same as the Präteritum form above: Die Wohnung ist durchsucht worden. The apartment was searched. Die Wohnung war durchsucht worden. The apartment had been searched. The future tense uses werden in the present tense, then the participle and another werden in the infinitive. The future perfect adds sein: Die Wohnung wird durchsucht werden. The apartment will be searched. Die Wohnung wird durchsucht worden sein. The apartment will have been searched. Finally, the conditional forms of the passive use either the Konjunktiv I form of werden or the Konjunktiv II form of sein, as follows: Die Wohnung würde durchsucht werden. The apartment would be searched. Die Wohnung wäre durchsucht worden. The apartment would have been searched. A few descriptive past participles are so common that they've essentially become adjectives, and you can use them without invoking the passive voice at all: Ich bin [not werde] beeindruckt! I'm impressed! Er ist [not wird] geschieden. He's divorced.

example of passive voice in German in all forms

The Konjunktiv I serves to distance the writer from indirect or reported speech: according to his spokesman, he knows nothing about the scandal. There is no useful English equivalent, and it's used almost exclusively in news reporting. It's in italics in the table above because you don't need to learn to use it actively unless you're a journalist.

explain Konjunktiv 1

The Konjunktiv II is similar to the conditional mood in English. It expresses hypothetical and/or conditional actions, and it usually uses a form of werden in the same way that we use "would" ("I wouldn't do that" --> Ich würde das nicht tun).

explain Konjunktiv 2

Moods. In grammar, mood is used to refer to a verb category or form which indicates whether the verb expresses... a fact (the indicative mood), a command (the imperative mood), a question (the interrogative mood), a condition (the conditional mood), or a wish or possibility (the subjunctive mood).

what do moods do in grammar (English or German)