Grammar: Verb Tense Formation

Question 1

How do you form the present tense?

Answer 1

stem + present tense endings

lernen:
- lerne
- lernst
- lernt

• lernen
• lernt
• lernen

Question 2

What are the present tense endings (1st and 3rd)?

Answer 2

e
t

en
en

Question 3

How do you form the simple past tense?

Answer 3

stem + past tense endings

lernen:
- lernte
- lerntest
- lernte

• lernten
• lerntet
• lernten

Question 4

What are the past tense endings (1st and 3rd)?

Answer 4

te
te

ten
ten

Question 5

How do you form the present perfect (aka, compound past) tense?

Answer 5

present tense (sein/haben) + past participle

Gestern hat Michael sein Büro aufgeräumt. (haben + aufräumen)

Yesterday, Michael cleaned up his office.

Question 6

How is the past participle usually formed?

Answer 6

• The past participle is usually formed by inputting a “ge” prefix at the beginning of the stem and ending with a “t” or “en.”
• Separable prefix verbs will split the prefix and the stem

kommen = gekommen
aufräumen = aufgeräumt

• The easiest way to identify past participles is to know where they will show up, which is always at the end of a sentence (if used verbally; they can be used as adjectives, as well, in which case they will not be at the end of the sentence but precede a noun).

Question 7

How do you form the past perfect tense?

Answer 7

past of (sein/haben) + past participle

Sie hatte sehr lange geübt…
She had practiced for a very long (time)…

Question 8

How do you form the future tense?

Answer 8

present of (werden) + infinitive

Morgen werde ich die Akten sortieren.
I will sort the files tomorrow.

Question 9

How do you form the future perfect tense?

Answer 9

present (werden) + past participle + infinitive (sein/haben)

Er wird wohl gestürzt sein.
He probably will have fallen.

Question 10

How do you form the subjunctive 2?

Answer 10

subjunctive (werden) (just has an umlaut) + infinitive
or
umlauted (modal verb)

Question 11

What is the difference between subjunctive 1 and 2?

Answer 11

Subjunctive 1 is used for “quoting” indirect speech (that is, when you’re directly paraphrasing something someone said but not formally quoting it).

Subjunctive 2 is for conditional/contrary to fact statements.

Question 12

How do you form the passive voice?

Answer 12

werden + past participle