German verbs

Summary of German verb tenses, voices, & moods

Basic tenses | Passive voice tenses | Subjunctive II tenses | Subjunctive II passive voice tenses Subjunctive I tenses | Subjunctive I passive voice tenses | Imperative mood | GRAMMAR INDEX

There are 6 basic verb tenses in German. There are two simple verb tenses, which are formed using only the verb or its root or a derivative: the present tense and the simple past tense. The other four verb tenses -- the future tense, the present perfect tense, the past perfect tense, and the future perfect tense, are compound tenses, meaning that they are formed using a helping verb + the verb's infinitive or past participle. In the tables below, forms of the main verb are coded in blue and helping verbs are in orange. When used in a sentence, either the verb itself or, in the case of compound tenses, the helping verb will be conjugated to agree with the subject of the sentence. This conjugated verb is called the finite verb. German also has 2 voices: the active voice and the passive voice. A change in voice allows the subject of a sentence to become the object and vice versa. Each voice has a parallel form for each of the 6 verb tenses. German verbs also have 3 moods: the indicative mood , the subjunctive 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.

Indicative mood, Active voice

The indicative mood, active voice verb tenses are the ones you will learn first and that are used most frequently in German. When people talk about the "present tense" or "perfect tense" without any other distinction, they are referring to the indicative mood, active voice forms. The indicative mood is used in most statements and questions. The active voice places focus on the action of the sentence and who or what is carrying out the action.

Tense
Simple tenses

Examples Ich spiele ... Er geht ... Ich spielte ... Er ging ... Ich werde ... spielen. Er wird ... gehen. Ich habe ... gespielt. Er ist ... gegangen. Ich hatte ... gespielt. Er war ... gegangen. Ich werde ... gespielt haben. Er wird ... gegangen sein.

English equivalent I play, I do play, I am playing, I will play he goes, he does go, he is going, he will go I played, I did play, I was playing he went, he did go, he was going I will play he will go I played, I did play, I was playing, I have played he went, he did go, he was going, he has gone I had played he had gone I will have played he will have gone

PRESENT SIMPLE PAST

Compound tenses

FUTURE PRESENT PERFECT PAST PERFECT FUTURE PERFECT

Indicative mood, Passive voice

The passive voice shifts the focus of the sentence from the subject of the action to the object of the action. The object of a sentence in the active voice becomes the subject of the sentence in the passive voice: ACTIVE: He saw me. PASSIVE: I was seen by him. The passive voice is by definition created with the helping verb werden. This helping verb is used in addition to any other helping verbs a tense might use.

Tense PRESENT SIMPLE PAST FUTURE PRESENT PERFECT PAST PERFECT FUTURE PERFECT

Examples Ich werde ... gehrt. Er wird ... gesehen. Ich wurde ... gehrt. Er wurde ... gesehen. Ich werde ... gehrt werden. Er wird ... gesehen werden. Ich bin ... gehrt worden. Er ist ... gesehen worden. Ich war ... gehrt worden. Er war ... gesehen worden. Ich werde ... gehrt worden sein. Er wird ... gesehen worden sein.

English equivalent I am heard he is seen I was heard he was seen I will be heard he will be seen I was heard, I have been heard he was seen, he has been seen I had been heard he had been seen I will have been heard he will have been seen

Basic tenses | Passive voice tenses | Subjunctive II tenses | Subjunctive II passive voice tenses Subjunctive I tenses | Subjunctive I passive voice tenses | Imperative mood | GRAMMAR INDEX

Subjunctive (II) mood, Active voice

While the indicative mood relates fact, the subjunctive mood conveys possibility, states an unreal condition, or expresses a wish, and it is also used for indirect speech. INDICATIVE: He is taking a trip when he has the money. SUBJUNCTIVE: He would take a trip if he had the money. INDICATIVE: I ate quickly. SUBJUNCTIVE: I would have eaten quickly. INDICATIVE: We fell asleep. SUBJUNCTIVE: If only we hadn't fallen asleep!
Tense PRESENT Examples Ich spielte ... Er ginge ... Wir sngen ... Ich wrde ... spielen. Er wrde ... gehen. Wir wrden ... singen. Ich htte ... gespielt. Er wre ... gegangen. Wir htten ... gesungen. Ich wrde ... gespielt haben. Er wrde ... gegangen sein. Wir wrden ... gesungen haben. English equivalent I would play; (if) I played he would go; (if) he went we would sing; (if) we sang I would play he would go we would sing I would have played; (if) I had played he would have gone; (if) he had gone we would have sung; (if) he had sung I would have played he would have gone we would have sung

FUTURE*

PAST

FUTURE PERFECT*

The future tense subjunctive is often used as an alternative to the present tense subjunctive, particularly in conversational German. The future perfect may also be used as an alternative to the past subjunctive. Note that the English equivalents are the same for these pairs of tenses.

Subjunctive (II) mood, Passive voice

The passive voice is by definition created with the helping verb werden. This helping verb is used in addition to any other helping verbs a tense might use.
Tense PRESENT FUTURE* PAST FUTURE PERFECT* Examples Ich wrde ... gehrt. Er wrde ... gesehen. Ich wrde ... gehrt werden. Er wrde ... gesehen werden. Ich wre ... gehrt worden. Er wre ... gesehen worden. Ich wrde ... gehrt worden sein. Er wrde ... gesehen worden sein. English equivalent I would be heard; (if) I were heard he would be seen; (if) he were seen I would be heard he would be seen I would have been heard, (if) I had been heard he would have been seen, (if) he had been seen I would have been heard he would have been seen

As with the active voice of the subjunctive mood, in the passive voice the future tense subjunctive may substitute for the present tense subjunctive, and the future perfect tense may substitute for the past subjunctive. Note that the English equivalents are the same for these pairs of tenses.

Basic tenses | Passive voice tenses | Subjunctive II tenses | Subjunctive II passive voice tenses Subjunctive I tenses | Subjunctive I passive voice tenses | Imperative mood | GRAMMAR INDEX

Subjunctive (I) mood, Active voice

The forms of subjunctive I parallel the subjunctive II forms. Subjunctive I is used primarily for reporting indirect speech. However, in the instances where subjunctive I is identical to the indicative form (indicated below in purple), subjunctive II is typically substituted to avoid confusion. English has no similar special form for reporting indirect speech.
Tense PRESENT Examples Ich spiele ... Er gehe ... Wir singen ... Ich werde ... spielen. Er werde ... gehen. Wir werden ... singen. Ich habe ... gespielt. Er sei ... gegangen. English equivalent (they said) I played (they said) he went (they said) we sang (they said) I would play (they said) he would go (they said) we would sing (they said) I had played (they said) he had gone

FUTURE*

PAST

FUTURE PERFECT*

Wir haben ... gesungen. Ich werde ... gespielt haben. Er werde ... gegangen sein. Wir werden ... gesungen haben.

(they said) he had sung (they said) I would have played (they said) he would have gone (they said) we would have sung

Subjunctive (I) mood, Passive voice

The passive voice is by definition created with the helping verb werden. This helping verb is used in addition to any other helping verbs a tense might use. Again, the instances where subjunctive I is identical to the indicative form are indicated in purple. In these cases, the subjunctive I is normally replaced with the equivalent subjunctive II form to avoid confusion.
Tense PRESENT FUTURE* PAST FUTURE PERFECT* Examples Ich werde ... gehrt. Er werde ... gesehen. Ich werde ... gehrt werden. Er werde ... gesehen werden. Ich sei ... gehrt worden. Er sei ... gesehen worden. Ich werde ... gehrt worden sein. Er werde ... gesehen worden sein. English equivalent (they said) I was heard (they said) he was seen (they said) I would be heard (they said) he would be seen (they said) I had been heard (they said) he had been seen (they said) I would have been heard (they said) he would have been seen

Basic tenses | Passive voice tenses | Subjunctive II tenses | Subjunctive II passive voice tenses Subjunctive I tenses | Subjunctive I passive voice tenses | Imperative mood | GRAMMAR INDEX

Imperative mood

The imperative mood is used to express a command. There are only 4 forms of the imperative mood. To determine which one to use, the speaker need only consider whether to address those with whom s/he is speaking with Sie, ihr, or du, or whether to include him/herself by using the collective 1st person wir.
Imperative form SIE-form Examples Spielen Sie ... ! Gehen Sie ... ! English equivalent Play! Go!

WIR-form IHR-form DU-form

Spielen wir ... ! Gehen wir ... ! Spielt ... ! Geht ... ! Spiel ... ! Geh ... !

Let's play! Let's go! Play! Go! Play! Go!