A2 Grammar: Tense, Voice and Mood

Tenses in German: An Overview

Tenses indicate the time reference of an action or state expressed by the verb.
German has six tenses: Present (Präsens), Present Perfect (Perfekt), Simple Past (Präteritum), Past Perfect (Plusquamperfekt), Future (Futur I), and Future Perfect (Futur II).
Each tense is used to refer to actions at different times and under different aspects.

Present Tense (Präsens)

Represents actions that are happening in the present or general truths.
Formed by conjugating the verb according to the subject of the sentence.
E.g. Ich spiele (I play)

Present Perfect Tense (Perfekt)

Used for actions that have been completed in the recent past; the focus is on the result or outcome of the action.
Formed with the present tense of haben or sein, and the past participle of the main verb.
E.g. Ich habe gespielt (I have played)

Simple Past Tense (Präteritum)

Used to talk about events in the past that are completed and not linked to the present.
Formed by changing the endings of the verb.
E.g. Ich spielte (I played)

Past Perfect Tense (Plusquamperfekt)

Used to describe an event or action that took place before another past action.
Created using the simple past of haben or sein and the past participle of the main verb.
E.g. Ich hatte gespielt (I had played)

Future Tense (Futur I)

Projects actions that will occur in the future under normal circumstances.
Formed using werden and the infinitive of the verb.
E.g. Ich werde spielen (I will play)

Future Perfect Tense (Futur II)

Used to refer to an action that will have been completed at some point in the future.
Formed using werden, the past participle of the verb, and the infinitive of haben or sein.
E.g. Ich werde gespielt haben (I will have played)

The Voice in German Grammar

German has an active and a passive voice. In the active voice, the subject performs the action; in the passive voice, the subject is acted upon.

Active Voice

The action is performed by the grammatical subject of the sentence.
E.g. Die Katze (the subject) frisst den Fisch (the object).

Passive Voice

The grammatical subject is the receiver of the action. Formed with werden and the past participle of the verb.
E.g. Der Fisch wird von der Katze gefressen.

The Mood in German Grammar

Indicative, subjunctive and imperative are the moods in the German language.

Indicative Mood

The indicative mood is used for statements of fact and questions.
E.g. Sie geht morgen zur Schule (She is going to school tomorrow).

Subjunctive Mood

The subjunctive mood is used for hypothetical or doubtful actions.
In German, Subjunctive I is primarily seen in newspapers and reports, while Subjunctive II is used for hypothetical statements or polite requests.
E.g. Subjunctive I: Man sage, dass… (It is said that…)
E.g. Subjunctive II: Ich hätte gern… (I would like…)

Imperative Mood

The imperative mood is used to give commands or make requests.
E.g. Spiel nicht die Musik so laut! (Don’t play the music so loud!)

Maintaining a consistent practice will strengthen your understanding of tense, voice, and mood in German. It’s beneficial to expose yourself to various text types in German to understand their application better.