German Tense

Definition: German Tense is a way to express the time at which an event described by a sentence occurs. Shows when something happens ie present, past, future. Tense in the imperfect (simple past) tense and past participle are made by simply adding -ed to the verb stem: ("I prayed, they prayed, we have prayed). The English verb "to sing" is a strong verb. The past tense and past participle are made by changing vowels in the verb stem: ("I sang, they sang, we have sung"). The same occurs in German verbs.

The Present Tense: In German is used to express an action that is taking place in the present or in the future.

The Present Perfect: is used to describe an action that has taken place in the past and is no longer taking place at the time of the description.

The Simple Past: is used to describe an action that has taken place in the past.

The Past Perfect: is used to describe an action that has been completed in the past before another action began.

The Future Tense: is used in German to describe actions will take place in the future.

The Future Perfect: is used in German to describe an action that will have terminated in the future before another action will begin.

Examples in German:

A weak transitive verb: to pray
A strong transitive verb: to sing